Anil Baijal will be administrated oath as 20th Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. (PTI Photo)
Former Home Secretary and Bureaucrat Anil Baijal will take over as new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on Saturday in the backdrop of escalating confrontation between the AAP government and the centre on a range of contentious issue including control over bureaucracy.
Mr Baijal, 70, a 1969 batch IAS officer, will be administrated oath as 20th Lt Governor of Delhi by Chief Justice of Delhi High Court G Rohini at Raj Niwas in Civil Lanes area of North Delhi.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his Cabinet colleagues, senior bureaucrats of Delhi Government and a host of invitees are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Mr Baijal, who had served as Union Home Secretary under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government besides holding key positions in several other ministries, will have to find a way out to work with the AAP government which had an acrimonious relation with Najeeb Jung who quit as Lt Governor last week in a surprise move.
Mr Baijal, known to follow the rule book, will have to take a series of important decisions including on the report of Shungulu committee, set up by Mr Jung to examine over 400 files pertaining to decisions taken by the AAP government in the last two years.
The Shungulu committee has reportedly pointed out "irregularities" in some of the Kejriwal Government's decisions.
Mr Baijal will also have to appoint a new chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) which has been "headless" since November after the appointment of incumbent Krishna Saini was turned down by Mr Jung.
There was a running battle between L-G office and Kejriwal government with the latter constantly challenging the former's supremacy in the city administration.
Mr Jung had won the court battle as the Delhi High Court had stamped the primacy of Lt Governor in the affairs of Government of NCT.
However, AAP government had approached the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict and during a recent hearing in the case, the top court had said the elected government should have some powers.