New Delhi (The Hawk): Jasmine Shah, vice chair of the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDCD), has been sent a show-cause notice for allegedly abusing public resources and her position to "advance the cause of a political party as its spokeswoman."
A source claims that Shah was given notice that "every public servant ought to maintain the principle of neutrality and that Shah has breached it with his activity."
Parvesh Verma, a member of the BJP, wrote a letter to Delhi's LG, V.K., in September. Saxena wants Shah to be fired.
Following the complaint, the Planning Department of the Delhi government—the Administrative Department in charge of the DDCD—conducted an investigation and discovered that the Shah had been attending TV shows and giving press conferences in violation of the standards established for a public servant's conduct.
A department investigation revealed "ample evidence" that Shah not only "accepted and performed the role of an AAP spokesperson, but also referred to himself as 'we' while identifying himself as a member of the ruling party and gave unqualified politically partisan statements amounting to misuse of public resources," the source claimed.
The Chief Secretary received the department's aforementioned finding and forwarded it to the Delhi government's Law Department for review and discussion.
In this case, the Law Department provided its thorough opinion and said unequivocally that Shah was a "Public Servant" and not employed in a "Honorary Post."
The Law Department added that Shah is employed by the government, receives government compensation, and is charged with carrying out public duties.
The DDCD's terms of reference, as established by the Cabinet led by Arvind Kejriwal, did not include the promotion of any political party, it opined. "No public office is allowed to act and function beyond the terms of reference of its inception."
As a result, the source claimed, the Law Department declared that Shah had flagrantly violated the DDCD's terms of reference and that "his activities were beyond the terms of reference assigned to DDCD".
The LG was provided with the reports from the two departments that the Chief Secretary had reviewed, and the LG gave Shah a show-cause notice to address his "misconduct" before taking any further action.
(Inputs from Agencies)