Days after two Election Commissioners (ECs) S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote to Cabinet Secretary T.V.
Somanathan on July 29 regarding the working of Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, the secretariat sent an acknowledgment to both with a copy to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for his “information”, a Right to Information (RTI) response has revealed.
The Cabinet Secretariat noted that the letters were from the ECs in their individual capacity and while needed to be taken with seriousness, cannot be taken as formal communication from the Election Commission of India (ECI) as a whole. Garg, after assuming the charge as link officer of DEC (Administration), issued an order regarding work allocation of equivalent and senior officers to him without discussing the revised work allocation with the commission or the officers concerned. Further, the ECs stated that this happened despite repeated oral and written instructions to all officers against taking such actions without prior discussion/approval of the commission. “In this connection, we may request the Chief Election Commissioner for his opinion on the issue.
A Cabinet Secretariat file noting dated August 3 says both the ECs had stated that Mr.
In the absence of any official communication from the commission any action can be construed as “interference”. Accordingly, a draft D.O. is put up for approval, please,” it said. “Draft DO may be put up accordingly”, it said.
It was though not clear from the RTI responses whether Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had in any manner responded to or acknowledged the information received from the Cabinet Secretariat.
