New Delhi: A day after Rakesh Asthana got appointed as the Commissioner of Delhi Police, the Congress party hit out at the Center alleging it of violating Supreme Court judgement and also questioned if any 'quid pro quo' was involved as his name was also among those whose phones are allegedly tapped using Pegasus Spyware.
While addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, "Not just it is an issue of inter-cadre appointment; the issue expands to another instance of blatant disregard for Supreme Court of India and the laws of the land." Khera alleged that Rakesh Asthana was due to retire in four days, but Central government appointed him to the post of Delhi Police Commissioner in a stark violation of the guidelines mentioned in the Prakash Singh case which mandates that six months residuary period must be available. "Was the opinion of UPSC taken prior to confirming the appointment of Mr Rakesh Asthana?" Khera asked.
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He further stressed, "The Civil Services in India has cadres that are state/region-specific. Likewise, vacancies in Delhi are filled from the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) Cadre. The fact that Mr Rakesh Asthana, a Gujarat Cadre officer had to be brought in, warrants a critical question- Could the Government not find any efficient officer within the AGMUT cadre?"
Congress alleged that it is not the first time that Modi Government has appointed such officers at plum positions, by reminding the appointment of Rajiv Mehrishi as the 13th Comptroller and Auditor General of India, who was at that time serving as the Finance Secretary. Mehrishi was accused of having an involvement in the Rafale scam.
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He also gave the example of Ashok Lavasa, who was the Election Commissioner during the 2019 general elections and was going to succeed as the next Chief Election Commissioner of India, but he later accepted an offer to work with Asian Development Bank in Manila. "This was after Investigative Agencies pounced on him and accused his son's company of violating exchange regulations and his wife of tax evasion and made sure that both of them were out of work immediately after Lavasa dissented with CEC and another EC on them letting off PM and HM for alleged violation of Model Code of Conduct," Khera said.
He also pointed out, "His appointment coming after his name was revealed among the list of those snooped upon using NSO's Pegasus, begs us to ask the question: Is there some quid pro quo?"
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