Just after the much awaited press conference by BJP MP Kirti Azad - cricketer turned politician on Sunday - the Delhi Government has decided to set up a commission of enquiry under chairmanship of former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to probe alleged irregularities including financial bungling in the Capital’s cricket body DDCA.
“Sh Gopal Subramanium agrees to chair Commission of Enquiry on Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scam,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted. “The enquiry will begin very soon. The CM has written to Gopal Subramanium today (Sunday) and it is just a matter of time before the probe officially goes underway,” said a Government spokesperson. However, experts said the Delhi Government is not empowered to order such an enquiry as the DDCA falls under the Companies Act and the commission of enquiry will not stand the scrutiny of law.
The decision to form the commission came amid AAP’s fierce attack on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over alleged irregularities in DDCA during his 13-year-old tenure its chief. Jaitley has strongly rubbished the allegations.
Following a CBI raid in Delhi Secretariat in connection with charges against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, AAP has been claiming that the Central Agency carried out the searches to target the AAP chief and was looking for a file relating to graft in DDCA.
Since then, the party has been demanding resignation of Jaitley from the Union Cabinet. Moreover, the fresh decision to appoint the committee came a month after an AAP Government-appointed three member probe committee headed by Chetan Sanghi, the Principal Secretary of the Delhi Government, had recommended immediate suspension of the DDCA the BCCI for alleged irregularities including financial bungling. The Delhi Government panel had suggested that an interim committee of professional cricketers should manage affairs of the game in the Capital.
Also, the committee had recommended the Government to appoint a Commission of Enquiry under the Commission of Enquiries Act while mentioning about findings on DDCA’s alleged wrongdoings by various probe panels in the recent past including the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).