Najeeb Jung hints CM may face charges

  • | Thursday | 12th January, 2017

"When asked whether Kejriwal could face criminal charges in these cases, Jung said, "That is possible. "CBI is looking at seven to eight cases," said Jung. Jung asserted, "If I were to sit on every file today, I would behave exactly as I did." They send us 464 files," Jung said.Jung revealed that he had post-facto approved 175 files with a note that these decisions should have been originally taken with the LG's approval. "(New LG) Anil Baijal will also take a look at two or three others in the pipeline (for referring them to CBI).

NEW DELHI: Disclosing some of the findings of the three-member committee constituted to study the decisions taken by the Aam Aadmi Party government without getting the approval of the central government and the LG, former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung said the panel had found many "irregularities". He said that some of these vexed decisions were under the lens of the Central Bureau of Investigation, while a dozen others were being probed by the vigilance department."CBI is looking at seven to eight cases," said Jung. "(New LG) Anil Baijal will also take a look at two or three others in the pipeline (for referring them to CBI). Another 12 are with the vigilance department. CBI has registered FIRs in two to three cases and filed for preliminary enquiry in another three or four."When asked whether Kejriwal could face criminal charges in these cases, Jung said, "That is possible. There are cases that are being investigated and should the cases come to fruition and should the court find substance in the chargesheets then there is problem."Reacting to Jung's disclosures, a Delhi government spokesperson told TOI, "In a democracy, everyone is free to speak and express views. We, as government, would not like to engage in this discussion."The former LG told India Today TV on Wednesday that where FIRs had been registered, the charges related to cheating, nepotism and malfeasance, all of which are punishable under the Indian Penal Code. He also alleged that the state government had set up a "secret unit" meant to act like a "counter IB" for spying, and claimed this decision was one of those in which CBI has filed an FIR.Jung cited the appointments of Nikunj Aggarwal, a relative of CM Arvind Kejriwal's wife, as OSD to health minister Satyendar Jain and Jain's daughter Saumya Jain as adviser to the government's mohalla clinics project as examples of "nepotism and gross favouritism". He characterised the appointments made by Swati Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, though these were not scrutinised by the committee, as "cheating, nepotism and favouritism".Explaining the rationale for setting up the scrutiny committee comprising former comptroller and auditor general VK Shunglu, former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami and former chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar, the former LG said that the August 4, 2016 Delhi high court judgment upholding the role of LG in Delhi's administration had underlined the illegality of a large number of decisions taken by Delhi government in the past year and a half. These had to be identified and rectified through post-facto approval or else nullified, so the LG's office had asked the secretaries to send files where they perceived they had acted wrongly."The files sent by them ... were an admission by secretaries and ministers that they had acted illegally. They send us 464 files," Jung said.Jung revealed that he had post-facto approved 175 files with a note that these decisions should have been originally taken with the LG's approval. He declined approval to 80 files, while 100 others were still under process.On why he did not make the panel's findings public though the report had been submitted on November 27, much before he resigned, Jung said, "It was not a commission of inquiry, only a committee set up to advise the LG, and so I felt there was no need to put its report in the public domain."Jung attributed the "fractious and publicly acrimonious" relationship with Kejriwal to the CM's "exuberance of age", "bit of inexperience", and the "approach that since you had this overwhelming majority you could do as you please"."All we tried to do was to try and curb tendencies to play with the Constitution or to interpret the Constitution in a manner that the Mr Kejriwal thought was correct and which we believed was not correct," he said.While politically they were bitter foes, Jung described his personal relations with Kejriwal as "extremely cordial". Saying that he genuinely believed he did not want any conflict with the state government because conflict could not get you anywhere, the former lieutenant governor said that all he he was to protect the Constitution because "my oath was to defend and protect the Constitution". Jung asserted, "If I were to sit on every file today, I would behave exactly as I did."

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