LG ignoring govt in giving nod to prosecute: Sisodia

Delhi deputy CM asked the chief secretary to submit a list of all such cases (where prosecution sanction was given by LG on files directly put up to him) to his office by 5pm on Wednesday

Firing a fresh salvo in the ongoing tussle between the elected government and the lieutenant governor in Delhi, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday accused the LG of bypassing the state government in granting sanction to prosecute people accused of committing crimes against the state.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia address a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

“LG’s over enthusiasm to bypass elected government on every matter, has created a crisis situation wherein many people accused of committing serious crimes against the state might go scot free. LG has issued invalid prosecution sanctions bypassing the elected government,” Sisodia said in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

“Under Section 196(1) CrPC, a valid sanction for prosecution from the state government is a pre-requisite for certain offences. It includes offences like hate speech, hurting religious sentiments, hate crimes, sedition, waging war against state, promoting enmity, etc. According to SC orders, it is the elected government which has to exercises executive powers to issue a valid sanction for prosecution under section 196(1) CrPC, and LG will be bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers,” Sisodia added.

Despite repeated attempts, the LG office did not comment on Sisodia’s allegations.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Delhi government said that Sisodia has asked the chief secretary to submit a list of all such cases (where prosecution sanction was given by LG on files directly put up to him) to his office by 5pm on Wednesday.

The statement said that in the last few months chief secretary Naresh Kumar has started sending all these files directly to LG, bypassing the minister. “LG also gave “approvals” in all these cases, though he is not the approving authority. Therefore, in all such criminal cases in the last few months, sanctions given for prosecution are invalid. When the accused will raise this point in the courts, they will be released,” the statement said.

The chief secretary did not respond to requests for comment.

The government did not elaborate on the number of cases in which the LG office gave the sanction on files sent directly to him. In the second week of January, LG approved the prosecution of Shehla Rashid, former vice-president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, for anti-army tweets. Later, an official had said that prosecution sanction from competent authority is required under 153A IPC to prosecute the accused. The official added that the file was routed through the elected government before the LG gave prosecution sanction.

An official in the law department said that Section 196(1) of the Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973 states that in the case of crimes committed against the state, no court shall take cognizance of any such case without the previous sanction of the central government or of the state government.

“It means that the minister-in-charge (home department) is the competent authority and the minister’s approval was supposed to be taken in all these cases. After taking the minister’s approval, the file is sent to LG to decide whether he differed from the decision of the minister and whether he would like to refer it to the President,” the Delhi government said in the statement.