The Delhi government on Friday rubbished the charge by Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung’s office that it wanted cases against Aam Aadmi Party leaders to be dropped.
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Accusing Jung of “concealing” the truth and trying to “save the corrupt”, AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the Lt Governor was trying to “misled” people on the issue On being asked about the basis of these claims, the AAP spokesperson said that the LG’s “statements and file notings” clearly indicated it and urged him to come clear on “who forced him to do so”.
In an official statement, the Arvind Kejriwal government accused the LG office of “misleading the public by hiding a few important facts” regarding the matter.
The LG office asserted that it is clear from the file movement that the file regarding parole of Chautala was received in the Delhi Home Department on October 9 and it was kept pending by Jain till October 23 and sent to Chief Minister on October 28.
However, the Lt Governor’s office said that based on the recommendations made by Jain, Jung had rejected Chautala’s parole application on October 5. Chautala is now behind bars at Tihar Jail here after being convicted in a case relating to the recruitment of teachers in Haryana.
According to a senior official privy to the development, the Delhi government, which last week had claimed that its Minister for Home Satyender Jain was “pressurised” into considering the 84-year-old veteran Haryana politician’s plea by the L-G, said it had also ordered a probe to investigate similar instances in which parole had been allowed against Prison Rules.
“(The) Delhi government is trying to work beyond their constitutional framework.
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While sources in the ruling AAP claimed that the Kejriwal government prevented special treatment of Chautala, a statement by Raj Niwas claimed the parole was denied by Jung on technical grounds raised by the Home department. “Therefore, the LG office has erred in making this allegation”, the government said. Secondly, compoundable cases of petty crimes against political leaders are not withdrawn on executive orders but through a screening committee. This committee consists of principal secretary (home), principal secretary (law) who is appointed by high court, the joint commissioner of police and director of prosecution. Apart from the names of Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, the names of other AAP MLAs in the list are Vishesh Ravi, Rakhi Birla, Vandana, Jarnail Singh and Kapil Mishra. “Therefore, it has made an unsuccessful attempt to divert the attention from the real issue of Om Prakash Chautala’s parole”, the statement said.
