Delhi officer suspended for Sikkim blunder says he relied on central govt document for ad

New Delhi: The senior Delhi government officer suspended last week for an ad that portrayed Sikkim as a separate nation said he relied on a central government document, “without realising” its description of the northeastern state.

Speaking to ThePrint Monday, Rahul Sudan said he was upset about what had happened, but claimed he wasn’t the only person involved in formulating the ad, which sought volunteers for the union territory’s civil defence corps in light of the Covid-19 crisis

“Several other officers are involved and the file and advertisements are published only after being approved by the chief minister and the deputy chief minister, but I guess no one realised,” said Sudan, 50, who served as senior staff officer (publication and coordination) in the Directorate of Civil Defence (headquarters). 

Portrayed Sikkim as a separate nation

The controversy stems from an ad published by the Delhi government in newspapers Saturday, which invited applicants for the civil defence corps, a largely volunteer-based organisation that is mobilised at the time of emergencies and disasters.

The eligibility criteria stated that applications were open to a “citizen of India or a subject of Sikkim or of Bhutan or of Nepal and a resident of Delhi”. Sikkim objected immediately, saying the ad was “immensely hurtful” and “offensive”.

The confusion can be attributed to the fact that the law overseeing the civil defence corps, the Civil Defence Act, 1968, was first passed seven years before Sikkim became a part of India in 1975. While the Act was updated in 1975 to reflect Sikkim’s new status, the regulations issued in 1968 as part of the law weren’t. 

The AAP has offered a similar argument for the gaffe as Sudan, but Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officers said it would be wrong to blame the controversy on central government documents since the Act was updated and the change notified in the official Gazette.

 https://theprint.in.