New Delhi, March 13: In a fresh trouble for former Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, facing allegations of wrongdoings in connection with Education and PWD departments, the Ministry of Home Affairs has given its approval to proceed against them in corruption cases.
Interestingly, the prosecution request of Delhi government’s Vigilance Department approved by the MHA dated back to 2021. The prosecution approval was sought by the vigilance directorate under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act).
The Section 17A mandates prior approval from a competent authority before a police officer can conduct any enquiry, inquiry, or investigation into an alleged offence committed by a public servant under the PC Act.
The MHA’s consent has now been sent to the Secretariat of Lt Governor V.K. Saxena, paving the way for questioning of both Sisodia and Jain – who both spent over 17 months each behind bars in connection with various corruption and money laundering cases linked to the excise policy and floating of shell companies.
Both former ministers are currently out on bail. The two AAP leaders lost the Assembly elections held last month. After the BJP’s massive victory in the polls, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had promised to probe all cases of alleged corruption during the previous AAP government.
In 2020, the Vigilance wing alleged “glaring irregularities” by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in the construction of 2,405 classrooms in 193 government schools. The vigilance directorate had recommended “fixing responsibilities” of the officials concerned of the Education Department and PWD who were involved in the “bungling” to the tune of nearly Rs 1,300 crore.
Apart from several procedural lapses and violation of rules, the Vigilance directorate had alleged tampering with the tender process. In April 2015, then Chief Minister Kejriwal directed the construction of additional classrooms in Delhi government schools. The PWD was entrusted the task of constructing 2,405 classrooms in 193 schools.
It carried out a survey to find out the requirement of the classrooms and based on the survey, projected a total requirement of 7,180 equivalent classrooms (ECR) in 194 schools, almost three times the requirement of 2,405 classrooms, according to a report in NDTV.
The Vigilance wing received a complaint on August 25, 2019, regarding irregularities and cost overrun in the construction of classrooms. The construction cost escalated by up to 90 per cent in the name of “richer specifications” without issuing a tender.
The Delhi government sanctioned cost escalation of Rs 500 crore without tender. According to a Vigilance investigation, tenders were floated for the works originally proposed and approved, but later, awarded contract value varied from 17 per cent to 90 per cent on account of “richer specifications”.
IANS