Amid allegations of corruption in allotment of permits to autorickshaws, the Delhi Government on Saturday suspended three senior officials of the State Transport Department. The decision was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The officials were alleged to be involved in malpractices within the department and involved in irregularities in distribution of letters of Intent (lOIs) for new autorickshaws.
Three officials identified as — S Roy Biswas, Deputy Commissioner, Manish Puri, Inspector, and Anil Yadav, UDC — were placed under suspension with immediate effect following the high-level meeting at 8 am.
later, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia tweeted, “The matter would be handed over to CBI. This Govt cannot tolerate corruption at any level.”
“On December 23, I received some complaints about irregularities in issuance of lOIs to auto drivers at Burari Authority of Transport Department, following which I held a meeting with Joint Commissioner (Transport) and other senior officers the next day, and issued directions to enquire into the matter,” Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister received an SMS from some auto drivers regarding certain irregularities in distribution of lOIs on Friday evening, following which he called up Gopal Rai and came to know that the matter was already brought to his notice, said a senior Government official.
The Transport Minister had already made preliminary enquiries into the matter and found out two types of irregularities — the lOIs were issued on pick and choose basis despite orders of the Transport Minister to follow chronological order and that the lOIs were being handed over to certain intermediaries/unauthorised persons instead of the beneficiaries/ applicants, the official said.
Following the developments, the Chief Minister held a meeting with his Cabinet Ministers and senior Government officials on Saturday and suspended three officials. All 932 lOIs issued by the Transport Department till date were also scrapped and the exercise of issuing lOIs was put on hold, said the official.
“The matter has been referred to Vigilance Department of the Delhi Government for further enquiry. The matter will be referred to CBI for investigation if so warranted on the basis of report of Vigilance Depart-ment,” he added.