Jung forms panel to examine govt files, Kejriwal calls it ‘witch-hunt’
Lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday constituted a three-member panel to examine around 400 files cleared by the AAP government over the past one-and-a-half years.
Lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday constituted a three-member panel to examine around 400 files cleared by the AAP government over the past one-and-a-half years.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the move as part of a “witch-hunt”. He demanded that a similar independent panel be set up to scrutinise the files cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The appointment of the panel comprising former CAG VK Shunglu, former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami and ex-chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar, has come after the Delhi High Court ruled that the L-G is the administrative head of Delhi.
The panel has been asked to submit its final report within six weeks of its first meeting.
Delhi government departments have submitted the files to Jung in the wake of the high court order. The L-G had told the chief secretary that all files that required his prior approval need to be sent to his office for examination.
The committee has been tasked to look into the “omissions and commissions” in the decision-making process and fix the responsibility of individuals, including civil and criminal liability, if any, the L-G’s office said.
Read: L-G Jung transfers senior Delhi officers, Kejriwal lashes out at PM Modi
“This is witch-hunting. Like they arrested MLAs on false cases, they will victimise officers now… Let an independent 3-member committee scrutinise all files cleared by Modiji also n lets compare the results (sic)” Kerjriwal said in a series of tweets.
The L-G office said while more files are expected, around 400 files have been received for ex post facto approval.
“On preliminary scrutiny of these files, it is found that over the last one and a half years, several decisions taken are in violation of acts/rules with attendant legal and financial implications. It is necessary to examine them in depth and suggest forward action. Therefore, the committee has been constituted,” the L-G’s office said in a statement.
COMMITTEE’S MANDATE
# Determine whether the decisions taken in these files and the processes adopted were in violation of the acts/rules and the constitutional scheme for governance of GNCT of Delhi
# Determine whether such violations were wrong, illegal and deliberate acts of omissions/commissions
# Examine the role played by the public officers of the GNCT of Delhi and other individuals and fix responsibility
# Recommend appropriate administrative/criminal/civil action against the guilty as well as action for recovery of financial loss to the exchequer
# Recommend course of action to be taken on each of the files/proposals, including whether the decisions can be regularised by the Lt. Governor.
# Outline the administrative, legal and financial repercussions of the regularisation/non-regularisation of the decisions
# Make any other recommendation relevant in the above context including further inquiry in specific cases