New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday sent out a stern message to senior bureaucrats, saying IAS officers who had issues working with his government were welcome to join the central government.
"No hooliganism by bureaucrats will be tolerated in Delhi. The IAS officers played politics... we will not tolerate this... If you indulge in corruption, then you'll go to jail," Kejriwal said in an interview to CNN-IBN.
"If you don't agree with cabinet decisions, then you'll be suspended. All those IAS officers who have problem with our government should leave Delhi," he added.
The chief minister said that never in the country's history had IAS officers gone on mass casual leave.
"They have gone on a strike for the first time. Those who have problem with us should give us their names. I'll write to the (union) home minister to send them out of Delhi or they should join the central government," he added.
The Indian Administrative Service Association did not comment on the remark, though one officer said if Kejriwal had issues regarding administrative control over senior officers, he should sort it out with the Centre.
"Why embroil officers?" a bureaucrat told IANS on the condition of anonymity.
"He should be the one who should go. He was an Indian Revenue Service officer and he quit. The kind of statements he is making are very bad," he said.
"He should not run roughshod over officials," another officer said.
Subhash Chandra, special secretary (prisons), and Yashpal Garg, special secretary (prosecution), were suspended by the Delhi government for allegedly refusing to sign two cabinet notes related to hike in salaries of public prosecutors and prison staff.
Following the order, officers belonging to DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre - to which Chandra and Garg belong - decided to go on a strike.
The central government, however, declared the suspensions as invalid.
The Delhi government earlier suspended three officers after they failed to provide relief material to slum dwellers in Shakur Basti whose shanties were demolished by Railways authorities.