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Delhi chief secretary attends first cabinet meet amid police presence

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Feb 28, 2018, 06:07 AM IST
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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. Photograph:(Others)

Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash today attended a Cabinet meeting to finalise dates for the Delhi Assembly's Budget Session, his first official meet with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal since he was allegedly assaulted by AAP MLAs last week.

Besides the CS, finance secretary S N Sahai and general administration department secretary M KParida also attended the meeting.

Hours before the meeting, Prakash in a letter to Kejriwal, said he would attend it to discuss important budget matters, assuming that the chief minister ensures "no physical attack and verbal assault" on officers attending the meet.

The Delhi Assembly's Budget Session would be held from March 16 to 28, the Cabinet has decided.

This is the first meeting of the chief secretary with Kejriwal since the alleged assault on him by some AAP MLAs at the chief minister's residence on February 19.
In his letter, Prakash said, "A meeting of the Council of Ministers has been scheduled (today) to discuss important matters of finalisation of dates for the Budget Session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly."

"Since finalising the dates of the Budget Session and passing of the budget are important for the functioning of government, I along with officers concerned will be attending the meeting," he said.
Prakash said that he hoped that in the Cabinet meeting, proper decorum would be maintained and dignity of officers would be protected.

The bureaucrats who attended the meeting ruled out thaw in the relationship between them and ruling party, according to reports. The Joint Forum of Delhi government employees said that though they supported the CS's decision to attend the meeting in view of ''public interest and budget exercise is crucial to the functioning of the government'', the would continue to boycott all the meeting except the crucial ones until the CM apologised for last week's alleged attack, according to reports. 

The deployment of 30 cops - 15 in uniform and a few in plain clothes - to ensure the “safety” of the three bureaucrats itself suggested that there is no breakthrough in the relationship between the bureaucracy and the political executive.