L-G Jung forms panel to examine AAP government files

NEW DELHI: 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.

HT Image

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.

“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.

“On scrutiny of the files, it is found that several decisions were taken in violation of acts,” the L-G’s office said.