Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena ordered the suspension of six officials of the BJP-run Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for “gross negligence”, “abusing official position” and receiving “illegal gratification”.
The Lieutenant-Governor also gave sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute a Sub-Registrar for allegedly regularising unauthorised constructions in Karol Bagh.
Top sources said that the MCD Commissioner, on the directions of the L-G, has suspended the six officials, which includes Superintendent Engineer AS Yadav, Administrative Officer, Manish Kumar, Deputy Controller of Accounts Anju Bhutani, South Zone Inspector Vijay Kumar, Junior Engineer (Narela) Sankhya Mishra and Assistant Engineer (Narela) Sriniwas
The sources also said complaints of corruption against officials of the MCD, the Government and the Delhi Development Authority are being decided singularly on merit. They said Sriniwas and Mishra have been suspended for failing to prevent an unauthorised warehouse from coming up.
The structure, which was under construction in Alipur’s Bakauli village, collapsed killing five people and injuring several others. Bhutani has been suspended for not following up with banks in matters related to clearance of pension cases.
Yadav has been suspended for financial irregularities in the sanitary landfill site in Bhalswa while Manish Kumar and Vijay Kumar are suspended for delaying the processing of papers for mutation of properties in the south zone.
In a separate decision, the L-G also gave sanction to the CBI to prosecute a Sub-Registrar at the revenue department for “illegally regularising” at least 50 unauthorised constructions in Karol Bagh zone.
“Raj Pal, posted as Sub-Registrar-III at Asaf Ali Road, is accused of registering unauthorised properties without the requisite stamp of unauthorised construction on the sale deeds. He had allegedly registered 50 such properties from July 21, 2015, to September 26, 2018,” a source said.
Pal was also accused of registering commercial properties in the residential category in Karol Bagh zone “in lieu of illegal gratification” and thus causing loss to the Government, he said.
“The District Magistrate (central) and Principal Secretary (revenue), in their separate reports, had recommended the prosecution sanction to CBI to investigate the wrongdoings of Raj Pal,” the source said.
Earlier this month, Saxena had given his nod to a CBI investigation against a former Sub-registrar of Hauz Khas for sale of Government land measuring over eight bighas in the Said-ul- Ajaib area worth crores of rupees in December 2019.
The LG had also approved an enquiry by the Anti-Corruption Bureau against a junior engineer of the Public Works Department for taking bribe.