The ongoing turf war between lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung and Aam Aadmi Party dispensation escalated on Friday with the Delhi government urging the L-G to dissolve a panel he constituted to probe s
The ongoing turf war between lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung and Aam Aadmi Party dispensation escalated on Friday with the Delhi government urging the L-G to dissolve a panel he constituted to probe some of its decisions. The L-G, however, turned down the request and gave the panel a six-week extension.
While rejecting the AAP’s request to dissolve the three-member committee, the L-G said the “truth hidden behind these files” must come out. “The lieutenant-governor has extended the tenure of the three-member committee till December 2. Earlier, the committee was asked by L-G to sumbit its report within six weeks,” an official said. Calling the committee headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General V.K. Shunglu “unconstitutional”, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said there was no provision in the Constitution for such a committee. The Delhi Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, advised Mr Jung to dissolve the three-member committee set up to review over 400 files of the Aam Aadmi Party government.
Mr Jung had set up the panel to study alleged irregularities of the AAP government following an August 4 Delhi high court ruling giving primacy to the lieutenant-governor in Delhi’s administration.
Mr Sisodia said that there was no provision in the Constitution, or in any statute or rule, which mandates setting up of an “external committee” to inquire into ongoing projects of public welfare, question officers and “threaten” to recommend administrative and criminal action against them. He requested Mr Jung to return all files of the government. “The Committee has created a dangerous climate of fear among the bureaucracy, thus threatening to derail the government functioning,” he said. Mr Jung hit back, saying the Delhi Cabinet’s appeal was an attempt to divert attention from misdemeanours. “Some misdemeanours are of the gravity that these matters are already in the process of being referred to the CBI for investigation,” Mr Jung’s office said.
