Jharkhand Chief Secretary complains of ill treatment from JMM MLA Akhil Akhtar

Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraborty on Tuesday accused JMM MLA Akhil Akhtar of using abusive language against him in presence of senior law officers at the secretariat while the legislator alleged the top officer asked him to "get out" of his chamber.

"I have informed Speaker Shashank Sekhar Bhokta and would write to Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Governor Syed Ahmed with an appeal to take action against the MLA," Chakraborty said in a hastily convened press conference. "I have not passed IAS to hear abusive language. It is the duty of a democratic government to protect our self-respect," he said.

Claiming that it was the first such instance in his career, Chakraborty said and referred to the representatives of the people saying "Now, such incidents of disrespect have increased." When asked what prompted such an incident, Chakraborty said that the MSDP meeting, in which the MLA was supposed to participate, was scheduled at 3 PM, but the chief secretary's meeting with the chief justice of Jharkhand High Court stretched beyond the schedule, yet the MLA was called at 3.45 PM.

"But he (Akhtar) came, rushed in and hurled abusive words at me," the chief secretary said. Accepting responsibility over the spat, Chakraborty however said he would appeal to officials, media persons and other people not to lie down before misbehaviour. To a query, Chakraborty said he did not lodged any complaint with the police as the latter's investigations into more serious cases could affect.

Akhtar, meanwhile, accused the chief secretary of asking him to "get out of his chamber" when he came to attend the of Multi Sector Development Programme (MSDP) and sat on dharna in protest against it. "I don't want to demand any action against the chief secretary or anyone else, and I will apologise if I have committed any mistake.

But the meeting convened to discuss development issues should not be taken lightly," Akhtar said. In support of Akhtar, another JMM MLA Paulis Surin sat on dharna at lobby outside CS chamber. The Speaker was not available on phone for comments.