Delhi Assembly passes resolution against chief and finance secretary

The Delhi Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday for a probe by the privileges committee into the alleged role of Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Finance Secretary A C Verma and other officials in causing a delay in the presentation of the budget.
AAP leaders alleged that the officers sat on a communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) raising certain queries on the budget proposals and did not inform the minister concerned, leading to a delay in the presentation of the budget for 2023-24, originally scheduled for Tuesday.
The motion seeking a probe was tabled by AAP MLA Sanjiv Jha.
“Chief secretary, finance secretary and other officials in nexus with the office of the lieutenant governor (LG) and the Centre suppressed an important communication of MHA regarding the budget. I recommend a probe by the privileges committee into their role in it causing delay in tabling of the budget in the House,” Jha said.
Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goyal called for a voice vote and thereafter the matter was referred to the privileges committee.
Finance Minister Kailash Gehlot told the Assembly that he learnt around 2 pm on Monday that the MHA had raised some queries.
“I asked the chief secretary and the finance secretary several times and finally around 6 pm, I saw the file and it was sent to the LG after the chief minister’s approval,” Gahlot said.
He said he was unaware of the MHA’s communication which had arrived at 5:30 pm on March 17 through e-mail. Gahlot said the chief secretary should have immediately brought the objection to the notice of the finance minister and the Delhi government.