Jung snubs AAP, extends tenure of review panel

NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday turned down a request by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to dissolve the three-member Shunglu committee and

NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday turned down a request by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to dissolve the three-member Shunglu committee and instead increased its tenure by 6 weeks.

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The committee was constituted on August 30 to review all the decisions taken by the AAP government after coming to power last year and was mandated to furnish its report within six weeks initially.

Defending the functioning of the committee, a statement from the L-G secretariat termed a Delhi cabinet resolution — advising the dissolution of the committee —an attempt to “mislead the public and take attention away from grave misdemeanours that are evident in some of the files”.

The L-G secretariat said the “truth hidden behind the 400-odd files being scrutinized must come out” and the AAP government should not be afraid of the truth coming out “if everything is as per rules”.

“Some misdemeanours are of the gravity that already these matters are in the process of being referred to the CBI,” the statement said.

Last week, the L-G had dissolved the constitution of the Delhi Wakf Board by the AAP government and had recommended a CBI probe into allegations of corruption in the board.

“The committee constitutes former civil servants known for their unimpeachable integrity and competence…and is examining files to establish the extent of malfeasance, if any, that may have been committed,” the statement said.

Refuting allegations that files are being summoned arbitrarily and governance is being affected, the L-G’s office said that the files had been sent to them by the ministers themselves.

“The government’s claim that its work was adversely impacted is false. Files that affect day to day governance are dealt with immediately and sent back. The committee is examining only files where illegalities may have been committed and have thus been accepted by the ministers themselves by the virtue that they themselves had submitted such files for scrutiny,” the statement said.

COMMITTEE UNCONSTITUTIONAL: AAP

The Arvind Kejriwal government had earlier advised Lieutenant Governor Jung to dissolve the three-member Committee set up by him to examine 400 files pertaining to decisions taken by the AAP.

Terming the committee as “unconstitutional”, Sisodia said there is no provision in the Constitution, or in any statute or rule, which mandates setting up of an “external committee” to seek files and inquire into on-going projects of public welfare and question officers.