HC seeks details of pending decisions by Delhi bureaucrats awaiting LG approvals

The Delhi High Court asked the AAP government Wednesday to give details of all the policy matters or notifications which have been kept pending by bureaucrats awaiting approval of the Lieutenant Governor (LG).

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar sought the information after Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra told the court that around 350 notifications ordered to be issued by various ministers have been kept pending by department officials for approval of the LG.

Taking note of the submission, the court asked him to give specific details of such files.

"Find out how many files are like this," the bench said.

The submission by Mehra came during the hearing of a plea seeking appointment of administrative directors, including the chairperson, in the Board of Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd -- a joint venture (JV) between the Delhi government and the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd.

The Delhi government lawyer told the court that the Health Minister had in September last year decided to appoint the directors and had on several occasions directed the Principal Secretary of the Health Department and other senior officials to issue a notification in that regard.

However, the officials were not issuing the notification for the reason that the decision taken by the minister has not been put before the LG for his approval, Mehra said and added that similarly, around 350 decisions have been kept pending by officials of various departments.

Subsequently, the bench issued notice to the Principal Secretary and the other senior officials of the Health Department seeking their stand on the plea by one Anil Mittal who has claimed that the non-appointment of the directors has resulted in Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd, which runs the Apollo Hospitals, being operated on the "whims and fancies" of the JV's private partner.

The petition has also contended that the posts of the four directors in the Board of Apollo Hospitals has been lying vacant for past three years.

It has contended that the non-representation of the government in the Board has resulted in policies for public welfare not being formulated and implemented.

Mittal, in his petition, has sought an order declaring that the subordinate officers of the departments were duty bound in terms of extant service rules to obey and implement directions issued by their superiors.

The plea has also sought directions to the Delhi government to conduct an inquiry into the "gross dereliction of duty" as well as "insubordination" by officials of the health department as they "failed" to implement the minister's orders.