Arvind Kejriwal, Najeeb Jung spar over DCW chief

New Delhi: The appointment by the AAP government of Swati Maliwal as the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women has taken a serious turn with Raj Niwas directing principal secretary (social welfare) Parimal Rai to explain how the order for her appointment had been passed in the name of lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung without seeking his prior approval.

In a strongly-worded communication on Tuesday, Mr Jung’s secretary S.C.L. Das asked Mr Rai to furnish the facts and circumstances related to Ms Maliwal’s appointment notification, mentioning that it was being issued “by order and in the name of the Lt. Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.”

Two days after 30-year-old Maliwal took charge of DCW, Jung’s office shot off a letter to the Chief Minister’s office saying the notification appointing her was “ultra vires and infructuous” as it does not have his approval. “The constitutionally valid consistent definition of Government is the Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi appointed by the President under Article 239 and designated as such under article 239 AA of the Constitution,” the LG’s office said.

The LG, who has been locked in a tussle with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over appointment and transfer of senior bureaucrats, declared that he does not recognise Maliwal’s appointment.

Maliwal had on Monday sought an urgent appointment with the Lt. Governor to discuss the Anand Prabat murder case in with a 19-year-old girl was stabbed to death by two youths.

Amid growing tussle between Delhi police and AAP, a group of party leaders on Wednesday met LG and top cop B.S. Bassi over the alleged “attempt to mow down” party colleague Dilip Pandey by the law enforcing agency’s van, and handed over a CD of the whole episode. It also alleged that PM was using the Delhi police to suppress AAP.