New Delhi: IAS Association secretary Manisha Saxena on Monday termed the allegations by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that the IAS officers in Delhi are on strike as "unwarranted and baseless" and "unfortunate".
"It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister and the Ministers are making unwarranted and baseless allegations that IAS officers are on strike.
"We wish to reiterate and clarify that no officer/official in Delhi is or has been on strike subsequent to the unfortunate assault of the Chief Secretary on February 19 at the Chief Minister's residence by the MLAs," she said.
Saxena however said that all the officers were very disturbed and agitated by the said assault but, "at no time was work disrupted".
"The concerned officers have been attending all Cabinet meetings, statutory meetings and meetings of importance affecting the public. They have also been regularly briefing the Ministers for Assembly questions.
"If the officers had been on strike, the Budget could not have been passed and the Budget Session could not have been held," she added.
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However, Saxena accepted that the officers are not attending routine meetings called by the Ministers and the Chief Minister.
"The reasons being that they (the Ministers) have failed till date to give any assurance regarding safety, security, dignity and respect to the officers including women officers," she added.
Ruling Aam Aadmi Party's spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj however said: "Even though officers are trying to justify the strike, they are too afraid to admit the participation in the strike."
"IAS Association understands it fully well that any form of strike can lead to dismissal from the service. The officers are too scared of losing their jobs," he added.
Bhardwaj also said officials participated in the Budget session as it was important "because the very salaries of these IAS officers comes from the budget passed by the Assembly".
"Answering Questions of Assembly is important because it can (otherwise) invite contempt of the house," he added.
Kejriwal on Monday alleged that the IAS association in Delhi was on a strike for the past four months which he dubbed as "illegal".