Chief Secy moves HC against notice from Assembly panel

NEW DELHI: A fresh of tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government and Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash erupted on Sunday, after Prakash filed a petition in Delhi High Court, challenging a 'breach of privilege' notice served on him for non-appearance before a Delhi Assembly committee.

The Delhi Assembly had recommended privilege proceedings for "contempt of House" against the Chief Secretary, after he skipped its meeting on alleged irregularities in a cooperative bank.

Meanwhile, the Assembly's Questions and Reference Committee said it took objection "to the lies resorted to by the Chief Secretary" in his affidavit filed in the HC, with regards to proceedings of the Committee.

Last month, the Assembly's Petitions Committee had recommended "criminal proceedings" against two IAS officers for providing "help and aid to the corrupt," in connection with the alleged irregularities Delhi Nagrik Sehkari Bank Ltd.

This panel had recommended that the Chief Secretary should submit an action taken report to the House within a month.

"The Chief Secretary should initiate criminal proceedings against Shurbir Singh and JB Singh for their acts of commission and omission to help and aid the corrupt," the Committee had said in its report.

The matter, pertaining to at least a Rs 100 crore scam in Delhi Nagrik Sehkari Bank Ltd, allegedly going for many years, was referred to the Questions and Reference Committee by the Assembly Speaker, following a complaint of an unsatisfactory reply to a question by an MLA in January 2017, by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS).

On Sunday, Prakash has moved the High Court and tried to link the Committee proceedings to his police complaint filed on February 20.

"It is shocking that when response of Prakash has been sought about how the concerned officers will recover the loans running into crores of rupees disbursed through fake papers by bank officials, which are now non-performing assets (NPAs), he is trying to divert attention from the scam," said a spokesperson of AAP.

"We have learnt that the Chief Secretary has moved the High Court challenging the breach of privilege notice served to him by accusing us of arm-twisting him in a matter related to alleged attack on him. But he is hiding the fact that the meeting was related to rising NPAs," AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, a member of the Question and Reference Committee, said.