In a major setback to the Arvind Kejriwal Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday ruled that the Delhi Government has no locus standi to order a Commission of Enquiry without taking prior permission from lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
The Home Ministry’s intervention came after the l-G forwarded the Delhi Government’s Cabinet decision to set up a Commission of Enquiry on CNG Fitness certificate scam in transport department by Justice (Retired) S N Agarwal, a former judge of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, to the MHA.
It appears that after going through the matter, the MHA concluded, “The notification issued by the Delhi Government has therefore been declared legally invalid and void ab initio.”
Moreover, the Delhi Government has been pointed out that it’s not the competent authority to set up such an inquiry under various provisions of the Constitution and the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
It is further clarified that on the orders of the l-G, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Delhi is going to look into the entire matter afresh. Notices have been issued by the ACB to all concerned, including Government officers named in the original complaint.
“The ACB has been asked to complete the probe on priority basis,” the Home Ministry said.
Questioning the Delhi Cabinet’s decision officials of the Delhi Government said Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal had already submitted a detailed report in the CNG fitness scam. “What was the point of another inquiry commission by a retired high court judge in the same case,” they said.
For long the AAP Government has been accusing the l-G of trying to shield the officers found guilty by earlier probe carried out by the CBI. And when the Cabinet had passed such a move, some had questioned it.
But the AAP Government had continued with its stand claiming that the l-G’s approval was not needed. As per the Cabinet’s decision, the one-man probe panel, being set up under the Commission of Enquiry Act, 1952, was expected to investigate all aspects of the scam.
It is noted that Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal had already probed the alleged scam after he was appointed by the l-G to see if there was any irregularity in the CNG fitness issue that had come to light in 2012 when the ACB found that the Delhi Government had lost nearly Rs100 crore in alleged irregularities in awarding of contract to operate and maintain inspection and certification of CNG vehicles at the transport authority in Burari to ESP India Pvt ltd instead of ESP, USA.
The Mudgal committee had in its report dated June 10, 2014, noted that there were “discrepancies but it had said the “omission was not mala fide but was inadvertent in nature”.
Following the Mudgal committee report, the l-G had noted that there was no case made out in the CNG fitness scam.
Then the AAP had accused the l-G of trying to hush up the scam. During the AAP’s earlier 49-day stint, Kejriwal had said all documents would be provided to the CBI after the probe agency sought some documents pertaining to the scam.
But the probe got stuck as the Kejriwal Government resigned. Sources claimed that the probe was stalled as permission to question certain officials was denied.
Then AAP had attacked the “continuing silence” of the Central Government and Jung on the “indictment” of a number of bureaucrats by the CBI.