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Shunglu Committee finds Delhi govt took 150 prior decisions, Kejriwal says report aims to discredit AAP

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested the surfacing of the Shunglu panel report and other allegations just before polls were aimed at discrediting AAP.   Avoiding any direct references to the report, Kejriwal said before every elections, things related to him including his "sweaters and chappals" are scrutinised, while BJP is given a free run. He said the opposition parties and business houses are after AAP as it has "dismantled" the "mafiosi" in power, education and health.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested the surfacing of the Shunglu panel report and other allegations just before polls were aimed at discrediting AAP.   Avoiding any direct references to the report, Kejriwal said before every elections, things related to him including his "sweaters and chappals" are scrutinised, while BJP is given a free run. He said the opposition parties and business houses are after AAP as it has "dismantled" the "mafiosi" in power, education and health.

Addressing a rally at a slum cluster in poll-bound Rajouri Garden, Kejriwal alleged Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain may soon be "arrested" on false charges. "I have told them to be not perturbed about getting jailed. It's a small thing," he said and went on to cite examples of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and interestingly, social activist Anna Hazare. Kejriwal and Hazare, who spearheaded the India Against Corruption movement during UPA II, have since parted ways.

"They don't see corruption in the MCDs. Whenever polls come, they are only after Kejriwal. Today he has worn which sweater or chappal," said Kejriwal flanked by local AAP leaders and some from Punjab, including H S Phoolka.

Appealing to the people to vote for AAP in the April 9 by-election in Rajouri Garden and the April 23 polls to the corporations, he laid thrust on his government's decision to slash power tariff and works in the areas of education and health. He also reiterated his promise to abolish house tax, including arrears, if AAP is voted to power in the MCDs. Making a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Kejriwal took a dig at the BJP councillors saying they have "backstabbed" even the PM.

"They have turned Delhi into a cesspool of filth and diseases. One feels ashamed to call Delhi the nation's capital," he said, promising to make Delhi sparkle within a year if voted to power.

Delhi government took 150 decision by circumventing ‘fundamental provisions’

 In order to ensure the Lt Governor does not have "prior" information about its Cabinet agenda, the Delhi government took over 150 decisions by circumventing "fundamental provisions" of rules, the Shunglu panel said in its report.
 

The panel said there were significant number of files where the Cabinet note was prepared in ministers' personal section and signed by the minister concerned without the matter being taken up for consultation or circulation.

According to report, as per the Transaction of Business (TBR) rules, any cabinet agenda must be circulated at least two days before its meeting and in exceptional circumstances, with the approval of Chief Minister, this period can be curtailed.

The panel, formed by ex-Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to examine whether various decisions of the AAP government were in compliance of the rules, said from February 2015 to September 2016, over 300 decisions were taken by the Council of ministers. Of these, more than half were "tabled" items.

"The Committee has been at a loss to understand the term tabled item. In practice, it has meant that the Council has taken up items and the decision to take them up is taken possibly at the commencement of the Council meeting.

"This is not only against Rule 13 (3) of Transaction of Business Rules, but also ensured that the Lt Governor had no prior notice of the agenda of the Council meeting," the report said.

The decision not to circulate and to "table" the item seems to have been "whimsical" in most of the cases, it added.

In its report leaked in the media yesterday, the panel has pointed out "gross abuse of power" by the Arvind Kejriwal government.

The committee has flagged decisions including the allotment of land to ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for its party office, appointment of Minister Satyendar Jain's daughter as advisor to "mission director" of Delhi State Health Mission and a number of purported party functionaries as "advisors".

The report observes that the genesis of the conflict lay in an April 2015 order issued by Chief Minister Kejriwal to all the departments.

It had directed officers to take decisions without consulting the Lt Governor on all subjects that have been transferred to the Delhi Assembly under Article 239AA(3)a of the Indian Constitution.

The panel said the decision to allot land to the AAP to build a party office should be considered "null and void" and also questioned the allotment of residence to DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal.

The report which runs into over 100 pages deals with decisions, including appointment of certain individuals as advisors to the government, taken by Kejriwal and his Cabinet where it had no authority do so and without the LG's concurrence.

"In pursuance of the directions of the CM in April 2015, it became the practice among ministers not to obtain the approval of the LG and to provide approval at their level," it said.

Among other issues, the report raised questions on the government posting officers to the Anti-Corruption Branch, its decisions on transfer and appointments of officers, foreign travel undertaken by ministers without the LG's sanction and appointment of lawyers.

Before demitting the LG Office, Jung had stated that Kejriwal may face "criminal charges" over irregularities found by the panel.

 

 

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