Delhi government’s DDCA probe panel illegal: Centre

Setting up yet another confrontation with the Centre, a defiant Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the commission of inquiry constituted by Delhi government will continue its probe into alleged irregularities in DDCA even after it was declared illegal by home ministry.

The Centre had declared as “unconstitutional and illegal” the constitution of Commission of Inquiry into the DDCA affairs by the AAP dispensation in Delhi in the continuing battle between the two governments.

The view in the home ministry was that the Delhi government issued the notification without Jung’s approval and the city government was not competent to constitute such an inquiry. “A policy has been decided that the Delhi government is not competent to set up such an inquiry commission”. He added that the central government’s opinion was not binding on the Delhi government.

Accusing him of taking “one unconstitutional step after another”, the BJP said Mr Kejriwal’s government has been a “complete failure” and the chief minister has been resorting to levelling politically -motivated charges against party leaders to “hide” its failures.

Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley had earlier sued Arvind Kejriwal for defamation, but perhaps that blow is the most that the AAP will suffer before actual investigations begin before the court. If LG or MHA (home ministry) or PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) aggrieved, they may approach court.

In a dramatic turn of events since the CBI raided the office of Kejriwal’s principal secretary in an alleged corruption case, the Aam Aadmi Party supremo retaliated with an allegation that Jaitley had presided over large-scale corruption during his 13-year-stint as DDCA chief.

As the fight continued, the central government on Wednesday sent a communication that “the elected Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi is neither the Central Government nor the State Government within the meaning of Section 2 and 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952”.

The Union Home Ministry also said the Delhi government does not have the jurisdiction to look into the affairs of the DDCA.