Amid the ongoing feud between the two Cabinet Ministers in Manohar lal Khattar Government, Sports Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday stayed away from a meeting of Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu.
These two Cabinet Ministers in Haryana Government have been at loggerheads over the issue of misappropriation of funds in Sonepat-based Moti lal Nehru School of Sports (MNSS).
The sub-committee was constituted in February to study the possibility of increasing the retirement age of Government employees to 60 years from 58 years. The committee is headed by Capt. Abhimanyu while members in the committee included Health and Sports Minister Anil Vij and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Kumar Bedi.
While Anil Vij gave a miss to the second meeting on Wednesday, he had also not attended the first meeting held on May 8. last week, the Sports Minister had lashed out at Capt. Abhimayu asking him not to intervene in other departments. “The Finance Minister has been unnecessarily interfering in the Rai sports school case. He should limit himself to his departments only,” Vij had said.
Ever since the special audit team of Finance Department took away records of the sports schools during the audit procedure being conducted in the premises, Vij had been demanding a registration of FIR against the audit team.
He had also written to the Chief Minister Manohar lal seeking his intervention into the issue and a high-level inquiry from a senior IAS.
The audit of the school from the period of April 1, 2015, and January 1, 2017 has pointed towards alleged fraudulent payments, embezzlement and misappropriation of government funds.
However, the school administration has termed the findings as ‘twisted’ and ‘premeditated vindictive exercise’ by the Finance Department to malign the Sports Department. The school administration had recently sent a point-wise reply to the findings given by the audit report.