Govt-LG fight: Two home secretaries in Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 10: In something unprecedented, two Home Secretaries -- one appointed by the AAP government and another who followed the Lt Governor's orders -- worked separately at the Delhi Secretariat today.

Senior IAS official Dharam Pal, who was removed as Home Secretary yesterday by AAP government, discharged his duties saying the Lt Governor has already rejected the transfer order.

"In pursuance of the order of the Lt Governor, I am continuing as the Home Secretary," Dharampal told PTI. Senior bureaucrat Rajendra Kumar, who was appointed to the post by AAP government, also signed files and held meetings with officials of the Home Department.

"For the government, Kumar is the Home Secretary of Delhi. All files pertaining to Home Department are being sent to Kumar," said a senior official in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office. Pal was removed by the AAP government after he signed a notification appointing Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police M K Meena as new chief of Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) following Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's order.

Jung on Monday had appointed Meena superseding Kejriwal's hand-picked chief S S Yadav. The AAP government had reacted sharply to the decision.

Earlier, an Additional Commissioner-level officer used to head ACB but the LG had elevated the rank of head of the probe agency from Additional Commissioner to Joint Commissioner. The AAP government also issued an order withdrawing Meena.

PTI