LG Directs DDA To Repatriate Senior Official to Parent Cadre

New Delhi: Unhappy over the “continued delay” in signing an agreement for land management with Survey of India on “flimsy grounds”, lieutenant governor VK Saxena has directed the vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to repatriate Vikas Singh, a commissioner with the authority, to his parent cadre immediately.In a note to vice-chairman Subhasish Panda, principal secretary to LG Ashish Kundra said Saxena had taken a dim view of the “lackadaisical approach” of the commissioner (land management). “He (LG) has taken a strong exception to the lack of seriousness and diligence which is expected of an officer of this seniority. His contribution to the work assigned to him has been sub-par,” Kundra wrote to the DDA VC. “LG has desired that his services may be surrendered at the disposal of the department of personnel and training for repatriation to his parent cadre immediately,” he added.A 2010-batch IAS officer of the Tripura cadre, Singh has been posted with DDA since April 2021. Singh, whose term was to end in April 2026, couldn’t be contacted. Kundra, in his note, said three meetings had taken place in the past few months to expand the scope of a memorandum of understanding signed in Aug 2019 between DDA and Survey of India to conduct drone surveys to generate and analyse data to determine the current status of land, including encroachments and unauthorised constructions, by including Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in it. The meetings on June 6, Aug 2 and Aug 16 were chaired by LG and attended by the chief secretary, the MCD commissioner and other senior officials where a tripartite agreement between the agencies was discussed, he added.Kundra pointed out that despite a commitment in June itself to finalise the tripartite agreement within a week to allow the work to start on the ground, nothing had happened. He added that during the meeting on Aug 16, Singh tried to cover up the issue by claiming that Survey of India had flagged some issues, but the latter’s officials present in the meeting said they had not even received a copy of the agreement.“This expansion is intended to ensure that the outputs of the drone surveys benefit all govt organisations concerned and the citizens of Delhi,” Kundra said in the note. “It must be emphasised that the continued delay on flimsy grounds undermines the directives issued by LG stressing upon the use of advanced technologies for maintaining records for land management, and also, the directives issued by Delhi High Court in 2019, which is unacceptable,” he added.
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