How Babus Become Pawns In Kejri-Jung Fight

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10 June, 2015

As the bitter battle between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung snowballed into a full-blown war over the appointment of anti-corruption branch (ACB) chief in Delhi, the AAP government on Tuesday (09 June) transferred home secretary Dharam Pal and sent the orders of his transfer to Najeeb Jung's office for clearance.

Giving a new twist to the turf war with L-G Jung, the Delhi government relieved Pal, who had issued the order to joint commissioner of police Mukesh Kumar Meena to join the ACB - a decision that had irked the Kejriwal-led government - of his services.

The AAP government has refused to allow Meena to take charge of the ACB, a post to which he had been appointed by Jung.

The Delhi government informed Meena that he cannot join the ACB as there is no sanctioned post of Joint Commissioner in the probe agency.

Meena said he would follow the L-G’s order, which had been issued on Monday. Jung, in appointing Meena to the post, had ignored Kejriwal’s nominee, S.S. Yadav.

The ACB is headed by an officer of the rank of additional commissioner, but the LG had raised this post to that of a Joint Commissioner.

Meena is currently serving as Joint Commissioner of New Delhi range and the LG's order said he has been given additional charge of ACB.

Meanwhile, Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar was on Tuesday taken in for questioning by the police and then arrested over allegations that he had obtained his law degree by cheating and fraud. (Read Full Story: Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar Arrested)

The AAP, which saw the arrest as another offensive by the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre on its "fight against corruption, said their minister had been arrested from his house and taken to the Vasant Vihar police station.

The arrest of Tomar, 49, a first-time minister, comes amid an escalating turf war between the Kejriwal government and Jung. Delhi Police reports to the Union ministry of home affairs. So does the Lt Governor.

Earlier, the AAP government has slammed LG's move to appoint Meena, with deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia terming it as “unconstitutional”.

“There have been illegal attempts to create the post of a new chief of the Anti-Corruption Branch by creating an Emergency like situation. They are creating such a situation in order to bring the ACB under their jurisdiction,” Sisodia said Tuesday.

Sisodia took to Twitter and said Meena was the officer who had changed farmer Gajender Singh's suicide during an AAP rally to murder and tried to frame him. Singh's suicide at a rally of the ruling AAP had led to a huge uproar. Sisodia had said the post of a joint commissioner was specially created to accommodate Meena.

Claiming a conspiracy, Sisodia questioned the alleged hurry in pushing the appointment of the "favourite officer" and asking him to take charge on Monday night itself. He wondered if the ACB's reopening investigation in the 2002 CNG scam had propelled the move. The AAP has accused the L-G of shielding officers in the Rs 100 crore scandal, reports The Hindustan Times.

The four months of the Kejriwal government have seen a bitter turf war with the L-G, who represents the Centre, over appointments of senior officers and routing of files. The ACB's jurisdiction is also being contested in the court.