The Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) has written to Delhi government Anti Corruption Branch to probe Ankit Srivastava, who was removed from the post of Consultant in Delhi Jal Board last year and he continued to be on the administrative Whatsapp Group namely ‘Minister (Water) Group’ and  disallowed Senior Technical Officers of DJB from giving any technical advice.

In the letter, the Special Secretary of the Vigilance department YVVJ Rajasekhar said, “Ankit Srivastava was removed from the post of Consultant, yet he continued to be a member of Whatsapp Group called “Minister (Water) Group’’. lt also came to the notice that he while being the member of said WhatsApp Group, was engaging in giving instructions to various senior officials that including Chief Engineers and Additional Chief Engineers and was taking policy decisions, even though, he was private person and had no locus standi in any matters,” adding that since it was a serious matter, a report was sought from Chief Vigilance Officer of DJB.

Reacting to this, the AAP government said the Vigilance Department under BJP ruled Central Govt is witch-hunting every consultant or advisor or domain expert who have worked with the elected Government of Delhi. All secretaries, OSDs, Advisors, Consultants are being constantly hounded to force them to stop working for the welfare of people.

The  vigilance department in its letter said Srivastava, who was engaged as Consultant in DJB without the approval of Competent Authority i.e. Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, “had been actively engaging in giving directions on Iradat Nagar Lake, tube-well installation, coordinating on behalf of Chief Minister Camp Office, receiving mails and access to CM Camp Office and passing instructions to Senior Officers of Delhi Jal Board.”

According to the vigilance department, he was found to have been issuing instructions to various officers of DJB at the behest of CM Camp Office and appeared to have access to the email of CM Camp Office. “It was also prima facie found to have not been allowing Senior Technical Officers of Delhi Jal Board to explain their views and was strangulating them from giving any technical advice,” the letter stated.

The department mentioned a Whatsapp message by Srivastava which reads “Kindly avoid making generic statements regarding treatment without proper references as such comments create confusion. There are no OPINIONS in the water treatment domain. CPHEEO/WHO manuals are there with specific recommendations”.