In response to a letter by Delhi government restraining Joint Commissioner of Police M K Meena to take charge of ACB, Meena replied that he had already taken charge.
“What is the conspiracy by creating a new post of Joint Commissioner in the ACB and appointing your favourite officers?” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted soon after the controversial appointment.
“Has the appointment been done because of the fear of CNG case being probed by the ACB?” Sisodia asked. On Tuesday, the AAP government issued an order withdrawing Joint Commissioner of Police M K Meena, appointed by Jung, as chief of the ACB. Jung had yesterday appointed Meena to head the ACB superseding Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s hand-picked chief <g data-gr-id="56">S S</g> Yadav. In fast-paced developments, Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch on Tuesday reopened a probe into the multi-crore CNG fitness scam on a day it refused to allow an LG-appointed senior Delhi Police official to take charge of the probe agency. AAP government also transferred Delhi’s Home Secretary Dharam Pal, after he signed a notification appointing Meena as ACB’s new chief.
“Dharampal issued the order to appoint new ACB chief without informing the minister <g data-gr-id="54">incharge</g> of the department — Jitender Singh Tomar. He was taking orders directly from LG,” said spokesperson of the Delhi government.
“The file related to the case has been sent to LG for approval. Meanwhile, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Rajender Kumar has been appointed as Home Secretary,” he added. Delhi government sources said ACB began the probe into the 2002 scam following instructions by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and it is being headed by the agency’s current chief <g data-gr-id="53">S S</g> Yadav.
The CNG fitness scam surfaced in 2012 when ACB found that the Delhi government had lost over Rs 100 crore by awarding the contract to operate and maintain certification of CNG vehicles at the transport authority in Burari to ESP India Pvt Ltd instead of ESP USA.
Despite the Delhi government’s order, Meena said he was holding <g data-gr-id="44">charge</g> of the post as he has got the orders from the competent authority.
“In future you may not interfere in the working of ACB otherwise I will be constrained to initiative legal action against you as per law,” said Meena in his reply to Sukesh Kumar Jain, Secretary cum Director, Directorate of Vigilance of the Delhi government.
Meena affirmed that he had already taken over the charge of ACB on June 8.
“I am again informing you that I am continuing as head of ACB and any such reference regarding charge is to be addressed to the Honourable LG. Therefore, such reference should not be directly addressed to me as LG is the competent authority in such matters,” added Meena in the strongly-worded letter.
It’s important to mention that Directorate of Vigilance is the administrative body of the ACB. Meena also reiterated that stand of the LG that the ACB is a notified police station and restrained him from interfering into the matter.
Before he appointed Meena, Jung rejected the AAP government’s induction of Bihar police officials in the ACB, saying the wing was under his administrative control.