Ashish More, senior bureaucrats issued show cause by Delhi Government

Ashish More, who was fired as the secretary of the services department last week, was given a show-cause notice on Monday by the Delhi government, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The move comes days after the Delhi government accused him of turning off his phone and making himself “unreachable.”

The IAS officer has been given a window of 24 hours to reply and asked why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against him under All India Services (AIS) (Discipline & Appeal) Rules 1969 of the AIS (Conduct) Rules 1968.

Delhi government had asked Service Secretary Ashish More to present a file for the transfer of a new officer as his replacement, however, Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that Ashish More left office without notifying anyone and switched off his phone.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the Kejriwal administration, which stated that the officers would report to the GNCTD rather than the Lieutenant Governor, the Delhi government decided to issue the show cause notice to the officer.

Ashish More’s disregard for Supreme Court decision is contempt of court: Delhi Govt

The Delhi government in its notice stated, “The aforesaid conduct of Ashish Madhavrao More it is apparent that after knowing about the intention of the Government of NCTD to transfer him from the post of Secretary Services, he has been trying through illegal means to continue upon the said post for attaining some ulterior objectives. By aforesaid conduct he also intends to sabotage and delay the implementation of the judgment of the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court. It also appears to be a malafide attempt to obstruct the exercise of lawful powers by an elected Government.”

The Delhi government had previously declared that the Services Secretary Ashish More’s disregard for the Supreme Court’s orders could be construed as contempt of court.