Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. file | Photo Credit: ANI
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on February 11 alleged the removal of the Kejriwal government appointed DISCOM BOARD MEMBERS as “unconstitutional and illegal” by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.
“The LG has started a new trend of overturning the decisions taken by the elected government of Delhi,” Sisodia told a press conference in New Delhi.
The deputy chief minister also rejected allegations that members appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government provided benefits worth Rs 8,000 crore to private discoms. “The LG can get the alleged ‘scam’ probed by any central agency,” he said.
“A new trend has been started by the LG as he reversed a four-year-old decision of the Delhi cabinet and removed the appointed members on the boards of discoms. In this way, he can now reverse the decisions of the government even four-ten years ago. are back,” Mr. Sisodia said.
The deputy chief minister, who also holds the charge of the Delhi power department, said Mr Saxena’s decision was “unconstitutional, illegal and contrary to established procedures”. Mr Sisodia also objected to the LG’s decision to remove the members citing “difference of opinion”.
The provision of ‘difference of opinion’ cannot be used in this manner, he said. There is a process to do this and it cannot be cited to repeatedly reverse the decisions taken by the government.
Mr Sisodia also alleged that the LG was not following the Constitution and a Supreme Court order, which said his power to take independent decisions was limited to three subjects – police, land and services.
Earlier, sources in the Delhi LG’s office said that ‘government nominees’, including AAP leader Jasmine Shah, appointed to the boards of power discoms in the national capital by the Arvind Kejriwal-led discoms have been replaced with senior officials.
He claimed that apart from AAP spokesperson Mr Shah, those removed from the board included AAP MP ND Gupta’s son Naveen Gupta and other private persons who were “illegally” appointed as “government nominees”.
Sources said the finance secretary, power secretary and the MD of Delhi Transco will now represent the city government on the boards of BYPL, BRPL and TPDDL.