‘Absconding, Phone Switched Off': Delhi Govt's Notice To IAS Officer

Ashish More, IAS officer who was removed as Delhi government's services department secretary, issued show cause notice by AAP government for not complying with Supreme Court order.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has issued a show cause notice to IAS officer Ashish More for not complying with the Supreme Court order. More was removed as the secretary of the Delhi government's services department last week, hours after the apex court ruled in favor of the AAP government in a tussle with the center over the control and posting of bureaucrats in Delhi.

According to a statement issued by the Delhi government, More has been asked to reply to the show cause notice within 24 hours. More was asked to make way for his replacement on Thursday, but he unexpectedly left the Secretariat and switched off his phone, read the statement.

The statement also said that More has been accused of not being politically neutral. It said that the special secretary of the services department sent a communication to the minister of services, Saurabh Bhardwaj, indicating that the Home Ministry's notification dated May 21, 2015, has not yet been set aside.

On Thursday, in a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over services. Hearing the Centre versus the Delhi government over the issue of demarcation of power, a constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said an elected government needs to have control over the administration.

It refused to agree with the 2019 judgement of Justice Ashok Bhushan that the city government has no power over the issue of services.

The bench, which also comprised Justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, said democracy and federal structure are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The constitution bench was set up to hear the legal issue concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and the National Capital Territory government over control of services in Delhi.