Dilli has got used to the frequent skirmishes between the Arvind Kejriwal government and the Centre, primarily the ministry of home affairs (MHA) who should control the bureaucrats in Delhi government. Now a fresh round of hostilities has broken out after the Centre demanded that the Delhi government provide details of all babus on deputation to the government of national capital territory of Delhi. The letter from the MHA under secretary Dilip Kumar also asked the Kejriwal sarkar to provide details of all consultants under contract with the state government. Which smacks of excess, of course.
Predictably, the reaction of the Delhi government has been appropriately sharp. Feisty chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the Centre of “over-reach” and meddling in the activities of an elected government. According to sources, at the centre of the new war is a letter written by lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung to Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, in which he complained about a Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer, S.K. Nagarwal, who is alleged to have been working in the office of Delhi home minister Satyendra Jain, while ostensibly on study leave from his parent organisation. The Delhi government has vehemently denied this, but in the AAP-BJP war, it takes little for fireworks to start!
Modi’s date with tax babus
Financial inclusion and a transparent tax regime are key policies of the Modi sarkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley are keen that top brass of the IT department, customs and central excise are on board for effective implementation of these policies. According to sources, the Prime Minister and the finance minister are likely to hold interactions with the directors-general and principal chief commissioners of the two largest departments in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) during the annual officers’ conference later this month.
This is the first time that the annual conference of the two boards is being held at the same time. In the past, the two boards held separate conferences, with the Union finance minister being the chief guest. This time however Mr Modi will be the keynote speaker while Mr Jaitley will be the lead speaker. The tax babus expect Mr Modi to outline his government’s goals, though he is also expected to urge the babus to work on reducing taxpayers’ grievances and find solutions to the challenges faced by these departments.
