Saxena tells Delhi govt to remove nominees on discom board

Describing their appointment as “patently illegal”, the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a vigilance inquiry into the matter, asking chief secretary Naresh Kumar to inform chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about the action taken and submit a report within 15 days

Lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Friday ordered the removal of four Delhi government nominees from the boards of power distribution companies BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited, alleging that they had colluded with power discom officials to cause a loss to the exchequer to the tune of ₹8683 crore and ₹11,550 crore in two separate deals, officials aware of the development said.

The four nominees that Lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena referred to are Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice-chairperson Jasmine Shah, Naveen ND Gupta (son of Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta), Umesh Tyagi and JS Deswal. (ANI)

The four nominees that the LG referred to are Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice-chairperson Jasmine Shah, Naveen ND Gupta (son of Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta), Umesh Tyagi and JS Deswal.

Describing their appointment as “patently illegal”, Saxena ordered a vigilance inquiry into the matter, asking chief secretary Naresh Kumar to inform chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about the action taken and submit a report within 15 days.

The Delhi government rejected the allegations against the four nominees, claiming that the LG is “acting like a dictator”.

There was no response from the BSES despite repeated calls and text messages.

An official aware of the matter said discoms in Delhi have boards of 11 members, of which four come from discoms, three are appointed by the government and four independent members are appointed with consensus.

Officials in the LG’s office said Saxena ordered the removal of the four nominees from the two discoms based on an incident report submitted last year by the power department and the chief secretary.

“The LG noted that despite objections related to the appointment of the four on file, raised by former lieutenant governors Najeeb Jung on November 1, 2016 and Anil Baijal on August 11, 2017, chief minister Kejriwal had sent the file to LG Baijal. LG Baijal had then said that once the Delhi cabinet decided to appoint them, he would invoke difference of opinion and refer the matter to the President, but the Delhi government appointed them as nominees on the board of discoms without sending file to the former LG. Such appointments made without following the constitutional process stands void,” said an official, quoting contents of the order.

HT has seen a copy of the LG’s order as well as the incident report.

In his order, Saxena also noted that despite the power department proposing to change the nominated members with government officials, the file regarding this issue is yet to be cleared by the power minister for the last six months.

Officials said the state government has 49% shares in the discoms, and government nominees have a veto power to block any ‘inappropriate’ proposal. The LG’s report said these four nominated members, instead of acting in the government’s interests, worked with discom officials and facilitated a decision to unilaterally lower interest rates charged on late payment surcharge fee from 18% to 12%, allegedly causing a loss of ₹8683 crore.

The LG also pointed to other alleged wrongdoing by the nominated and other members, including not holding an annual general meeting where the issue of lowering the interest on late surcharge fees was to be discussed. The LG also claimed irregularities of ₹11,550 crore with respect to dues that the discoms owed the Delhi government.

The Delhi government rejected the allegations. “All allegations made by the LG are absolutely baseless. The Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has clearly said in its (2018) orders that the LG does not have any powers to take independent decisions. Therefore, his decisions and directions are illegal and unconstitutional. He is acting like a dictator with complete disregard for the highest court of our land. This is tantamount to contempt of the Supreme Court,” the Delhi government said in a statement.