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Move to divest Haryana home minister Anil Vij of criminal investigation dept charge flawed
The manner in which Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has attempted to divest home minister Anil Vij of the charge of criminal investigation department
The manner in which Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has attempted to divest home minister Anil Vij of the charge of criminal investigation department (CID) is administratively and legally flawed.
A controversy erupted on Tuesday when the official website of the state assembly cited the chief minister as holding the charge of the CID, the intelligence arm of the state government. While there was no notification issued by the government to make this change, the recent episodes of home minister pulling up the CID and expressing displeasure over its functioning formed the backdrop of the “ill-advised” move.
The change on the website indicated that the chief minister’s office thinks of the CID as a separate department while it is actually not, sources privy to the development said.
As per the Business of the Haryana Government (Allocation) Rules, 1974, the governor, on the advice of the chief minister, can allot among the ministers the business of the government by assigning one or more departments to charge of a minister.
Also, the chief minister can assign a single department to more than one minister. But, in this case, the government will have to amend the Allocation Rules to define CID as a separate department. The least the government can do is to get a fresh portfolio notification issued conveying that Anil Vij will hold the charge of home portfolio except the CID wing.
The recent changes made on the government website to indicate that Khattar holds the charge of CID while Vij has the home portfolio are nothing but specious claims, which would create further confusion and disorder in the government functioning and disposal of work.
CID IS NOT A SEPARATE DEPARTMENT
Unless the government amends the Business of the Haryana Government (Allocation) Rules, the CID is incorporated in the home department and is not a stand-alone entity.
The Rules of Business framed under Article 166 of the Constitution have clearly spelt out that a department means a department specified in Business of the Haryana Government (Allocation) Rules.
The rules specify home, jails and administration of justice as three separate departments. But the CID has been mentioned as a part of the home department and so are the functions of security, intelligence, including espionage and counter espionage, which the state CID also performs.
Also, the demand for financial grants passed by the state assembly during the presentation of 2019-20 budget estimates mentioned home as a department, police as a major head and criminal investigation as a minor head/subhead. As per the accounting classification made by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) of the central government, the major head (police in this case) represents a major function of the government while the minor head (criminal investigation in the case) represents a programme or scheme of the government.
“So, at best, the CID is an arm of the police department. Even the Haryana Police Act says that the state police will have a state intelligence wing for collection, collation, analysis and dissemination of intelligence and a separate state crime investigation wing for collection, collation and analysis of criminal intelligence and for investigating, heinous crime with interstate, inter-district ramifications, major economic offences, cyber crimes and other cases of serious nature as may be prescribed,” said an officer who once worked in the CID.
STANDING ORDER TOO MENTIONS VIJ’S AUTHORITY
The standing orders of the home department which listed cases to be disposed of by the home minister through additional chief secretary, home, also state that all cases of CID will be disposed of by Vij.
The fresh standing orders were prepared in December 2019 after Vij took over as the home minister. The standing orders signed by the home minister though say that chief minister may dispose of any matter which he may like to go through.
IT PRACTICALLY MEANS NOTHING: VIJ
Vij, who had expressed displeasure over the functioning of the CID, said, “A mere mention on a website does not divest me of the charge of the CID. The CID is an integral part of home portfolio and the allocation of business rules testify that. The CM has the authority to reallocate any department to a minister. But then, a process has to be followed to do so. The governor has to issue a notification on the advice of the chief minister to reallocate a department. There is none as of now,” the home minister said.
When asked whether he would take up this issue with Khattar, Vij said it was not required as practically, nothing had changed.
“Unless the allocation of business gets amended by the council of ministers, CID remains with the home minister,” the home minister added.
The state government on Wednesday constituted a committee to be led by additional chief secretary, home, Vijai Vardhan, to suggest changes and modifications in order to improve the functioning of the CID. Two senior IPS officers, director general (vigilance) KP Singh and commandant general, home guard and civil defence,
PR Deo, are members of the panel. The committee constituted on the directions of Vij reinforced his claim as the
boss of the CID.
