Shunglu Committee submits report on 400 files to LG

The Shunglu Committee, which was formed by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung to examine over 400 files on decisions taken by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, on Sunday submitted its report to the LG office.

Sources said the LG office will examine the three-member committee’s report and take a final call accordingly on all files pertaining to decisions taken by the Arvind Kejriwal government since it was formed.

“The committee has submitted its report in a sealed envelop. The LG office will now examine the report and thereafter, the Lieutenant Governor will take the final decision,” they said.

The committee’s report may trigger a fresh round of tussle between the city administration and LG’s office as the AAP government has claimed that it has taken all its decisions as per the laid down rules and termed the committee as illegal.

In October, Jung had given the committee a six-week extension and rejected the city government’s request to dissolve the panel, saying that the “truth hidden behind these files” must come out.

Also, Jung had wondered why the AAP government was “afraid” of the truth coming out if everything, as claimed by the party’s ministers, is as per rules.

The committee’s tenure was to end on December 2. It was examining any “irregularities” and “infirmities” in the files of the Delhi government.

Jung had formed the committee chaired by former CAG VK Shunglu on August 30 and ex-chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami and ex-chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar are also its members.

Meanwhile, many files that were sent to the LG have already been returned, highly-placed sources said.

“The files are coming back. Many of the files have already been received by the city government,” they said.

Last month, the Delhi Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had passed a resolution, advising LG to dissolve the committee arguing that “impounding” of 400 files is “creating hurdles” in the works of government.

Turning down the resolution, the LG office had then said the Cabinet resolution is evidently an attempt to “mislead” the public and take attention away from “grave misdemeanours” evident in some of the files. Jung had also said the files that had been sent to his office have not been “summoned or impounded” by his office but had been sent by the ministers themselves.

In August this year, the Delhi high court had ordered that the LG was the administrator of the NCT of Delhi while rejecting several pleas challenging the LG’s authority after which he had ordered examining of the files.