Hero Image

Delhi Govt's Sikkim Blunder: Official Who Was Suspended Used Centre's Document

New Delhi: Following a protest by the Sikkim government over a Delhi government advertisement showing the northeastern state as a separate country, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had suspended the official with immediate effect. Baijal said that the action was taken against the officer for pushing out an ad that “disrespects the territorial integrity of India”.

However, the suspended official – Rahul Sudan, senior staff officer (publication and coordination) in the Directorate of Civil Defence (headquarters) – has pointed out that he made the incorrect projection of the state by relying on a Central government document.

The advertisement was published by the Delhi government on May 23 in newspapers, seeking volunteers for the civil defence corps in the light of the COVID-19 crisis had said “citizen of India or a subject of Sikkim or of Bhutan or of Nepal and a resident of Delhi” as one of the eligibility criteria for selection. It was withdrawn following the uproar with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeting that “Sikkim is an integral part of India”.

The Civil Defence Act, 1968, the law overseeing the civil defence corps in the country, came into effect seven years before Sikkim became India’s newest state. While the law was updated in 1975, the year Sikkim joined the Indian union, but the 1968 regulations were never updated. It was those regulations that had led to the present confusion.

A news report in The Print has pointed out that Delhi is not the only state misrepresenting Sikkim. “The government websites of Assam and Odisha also mention Sikkim as a category separate from Indian citizens in the eligibility criteria for civil defence corps”.

READ ON APP