New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday directed the chief secretary to conduct a probe into the alleged non-implementation of power subsidy payment to consumers through DBT as was ordered by the DERC in 2018.
The chief secretary has been asked to submit a report within seven days, said sources.
The action followed after a complaint received by the LG Secretariat raised issues of “impropriety and discrepancies” in the power subsidy scheme of the Kejriwal government in Delhi, said source.
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had in its order on February 19, 2018, stated that the Delhi government may consider transferring power subsidy to the consumers through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.
“The complainants including eminent lawyers and jurists have alleged that a massive scam was effected after Delhi government appointed directors and a private discom,” claimed sources.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party made a scathing attack on Governor VK Saxena for ordering a probe into the alleged irregularities in the AAP government’s power subsidy scheme.
The AAP on Tuesday accused Delhi LG of bypassing the elected government in Delhi and ordering inquiries into its works in a “politically motivated and unconstitutional” manner.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders attacked Saxena hours after he directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to conduct a probe into the alleged irregularities in in the AAP government’s power subsidy scheme.
The AAP leader said the LG has no power to issue orders on any matters concerning the Delhi government except for land, police, and law and order. Stating the LG has been regularly ordering probes into decisions taken by the elected government in Delhi, Sisodia alleged these inquiries were “illegal and unconstitutional”.
Nothing has come out of the probe into the “so-called” bus procurement scam, school scam, liquor scam, but it weakens the morale of officers, Sisodia said, and urged the LG to work “according to the Constitution”.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the people of Gujarat have liked AAP’s idea of free electricity which has prompted the BJP to obstruct the power subsidy scheme in the national capital. Kejriwal in a tweet in Hindi said, “Gujarat is liking AAP’s guarantee of giving free electricity. That’s why the BJP wants to stop it in Delhi.”