Saxena had granted ACB permission to investigate the case, a complaint for which was filed by BJP MP Manoj Tiwari. Sisodia has called the complaint frivolous, and had said the L-G did not have authority to give sanction for the investigation. “You are bulldozing the law only to favour the BJP,” Sisodia had said in his letter.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said that Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was trying to “mislead the public” regarding the enquiry initiated against Public Works Department (PWD) officers in the case relating to the construction of seven hospitals in city.
Saxena had granted ACB permission to investigate the case, a complaint for which was filed by BJP MP Manoj Tiwari. Sisodia has called the complaint frivolous, and had said the L-G did not have authority to give sanction for the investigation. “You are bulldozing the law only to favour the BJP,” Sisodia had said in his letter.
In response to the letter, the L-G Tuesday wrote, “It is both sad and surprising to note that… Deputy Chief Minister has made factually and legally incorrect statements… while unnecessarily politicising a desirable administrative action… High Court of Delhi in its judgement has held… ‘Services’ falls outside purview of Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi…the permission for conducting enquiry into the complaint of corruption against officials of PWD has been granted after careful examination and strictly in accordance with the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the provisions of law.”
In response, Delhi government officials said granting permissions for enquiries did not fall under the purview of ‘Services’ and are the jurisdiction of the elected government. In his letter, Sisodia had claimed that former L-G Anil Baijal did not consider it worth a detailed investigation and the new L-G had reopened the complaint.
Saxena also said in his letter that contrary to what Sisodia had said, the case had not been closed. “The notings in the file bear out the fact that the case was never closed… such unverified claims and assertions are unwarranted and appear to be an attempt to mislead the general public on this issue…I would further urge you to advise your hon’ble ministers to refrain from such unproductive and poorly evidenced assertions, which are both misleading and obstructive in nature,” he wrote.
Sources in the government said, “The L-G office receives thousands of frivolous complaints… The fact that former L-G did not act on it within prescribed time limit of four months shows he did not find it serious enough to act.”
