Delhi LG seeks CBI probe into Kejriwal govt's liquor policy
India Today
Earlier, Delhi Lieutenant Governor returned the proposal regarding the Singapore visit of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to attend the ‘Eighth World Cities Summit and WCS Mayors Forum’.
The Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena ordered a probe into the controversial Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 of the Arvind Kejriwal government based on a report from Delhi Chief Secretary in accordance with Rule 57 of the ToBR 1993, which mandates the Chief Secretary to flag any deviation from laid down procedures to the Lt. Governor and the chief minister.
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 of the Kejriwal government has been allegedly used to extend undue financial favours to the liquor licensees much after the tenders had been awarded and thus cause huge losses to the ex-chequer.
The probe recommendation comes following a report by the Chief Secretary of Delhi dated July 8, 2022 that prima facie established violations of GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR) 1993, Delhi Excise Act 2009 and Delhi Excise Rules 2010 in addition to deliberate and gross procedural lapses to provide post tender undue benefits to liquor licensees for the year 2021-22.
The report of the Chief Secretary, sent both to LG and the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, “indicate Substantively of financial quid pro quo at the top political level, wherein the Minister In-charge of the Excise Department, Manish Sisodia, took and got executed, major decisions/actions “in violation of the statutory provisions and the notified Excise Policy that had huge financial implications.”
“Sisodia also allegedly extended undue financial favours to the liquor licensees much after the tenders had been awarded and thus caused huge losses to the ex-chequer,” the report by the Chief Secretary said.
The Excise Policy in question opposed by civil society, religious groups, educational institutions, Parents' Bodies and the opposition alike, was brought in the middle of the deadly Delta wave of the Covid pandemic.
“It was done so with the sole aim of benefitting private liquor barons in lieu of financial benefits to individuals at the highest echelons of the government leading up to the Minister in-charge of Excise & Finance, Manish Sisodia,” the Delhi Chief Secretary has said in his report.
