Months after recommending a CBI probe into the new excise policy of the Arvind Kejriwal-led-Delhi government, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has now sought a report from the Delhi Chief Secretary about irregularities in the power subsidy scheme.
As per reports, LG Saxena has questioned the non-implementation of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) order of February 19, 2018, which directed the Delhi government to transfer electricity subsidies to consumers directly.
The Delhi Governor informed that he received a complaint against the Delhi Dialogue Commission Chairperson, Jasmine Shah, and AAP leader ND Gupta’s son Naveen Gupta over impropriety and discrepancy in the power subsidy scheme.
#Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena asks Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to inquire into the alleged irregularities and discrepancies in the power subsidy given by the AAP government to BSES Discoms.
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) October 4, 2022
LG seeks a report in the matter within seven days. pic.twitter.com/BFwtiutrup
The Arvind Kejriwal-led-Delhi government holds 49% shares in private DISCOMs including that of Anil Ambani’s BSES Yamuna Power Ltd. (BYPL) and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. (BRPL). It is accused of appointing directors of these private DISCOMs.
Based on the complaint of a group of eminent jurists, lawyers and law professionals, the LG has now sought a report from the Delhi Chief Secretary within a period of 7 days.
Under the electricity subsidy scheme, households that use less than 200 units every month are not billed at the end of the cycle. Those consumers who use up to 400 units per month can avail upto 50% of the subsidy (up to ₹800) on the total bill. Initially, the rule applied to all but was later tweaked to include only those Delhiites, who voluntarily opt-in for the service.
Allegations of scam in the electricity subsidy scheme
According to BJP leader Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, private DISCOMs BRPL and BYPL owe ₹21, 250 to the Delhi government but no efforts were made to recover the sum of money.
“AAP allowed these companies to settle outstanding dues against future payments to be made to them by the Delhi government itself, resulting in the companies receiving an undue benefit of Rs 11,550 crore,” he accused the AAP government of impropriety.
The electricity scam done by @ArvindKejriwal is beyond the imagination! pic.twitter.com/rBJwNyydBN
— Vishnu Vardhan Reddy (@SVishnuReddy) October 5, 2022
Vishnu Vardhan Reddy further alleged that while BRPL and BYPL charged an 18% late payment surcharge to the consumers, only 12% of the surcharge was paid to the power generation companies. He stated that the government suffered a further loss of ₹8,500 in this process.
The BJP accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of removing top government officials from the Board and replacing them with party leaders such as Jasmine Shah and Naveen Gupta.
“The AAP government even blocked the audit of these companies and prevented direct subsidy transfers to the people’s bank accounts violating its own orders of 2015-16 and 2018,” Vishnu Vardhan Reddy further pointed out.
Allegations of corruption in the Delhi Excise Policy
The Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-2022, the scrapped liquor policy, was originally proposed in 2020. After coming into effect in November 2021, it changed the manner in which alcohol was sold in Delhi.
Until then, only government-owned liquor vendors were permitted to sell alcohol. The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022 introduced private players in the market. The National Capital was divided into 32 zones and a total of 27 private vendors were to ply in each zone.
Every municipal ward had 2-3 liquor vendors operating in the area. The private liquor shops were allowed to attract crowds by offering discounts on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). They could deliver liquor at home, and even keep shops open till 3 am in the morning.
The drastic policy change resulted in a 27% increase in government revenue to ₹8900 crores. At the same time, it marked the complete exit of the Delhi government from the liquor business.
While the objective of Excise Policy 2021-2022 was to end black marketing and the liquor mafia, the AAP government soon came under fire over allegations of corruption. Naresh Kumar, who was appointed the Chief Secretary of Delhi in April 2022, found irregularities and procedural lapses in the new liquor policy.
The Chief Secretary prepared a report and sought the response of Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the head of the Excise Department. The report blamed the Deputy CM for making changes to the excise policy without the authorisation of the Lieutenant Governor and providing ‘undue benefits’ to the liquor vendors.
Manish Sisodia waived off ₹144.36 crores on the license fee, to be paid by the private liquor vendors, under the garb of the Coronavirus pandemic. He also caused loss to the Excise Department and benefitted liquor licensees by waiving the import pass fee of ₹50 per beer case.
All these changes were made without the final approval of the Lieutenant Governor and thus considered illegal under the Delhi Excise Rules of 2010 and Transaction of Business Rules of 1993. The CBI had therefore registered a case against Vijay Nair and 14 others.
