On Saturday, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena issued orders to replace ‘government nominees’ nominated by the Arvind Kejriwal-led administration to the boards of power DISCOMs in Delhi. Several Aam Aadmi Party leaders including AAP Spokesperson Jasmine Shah, Naveen Gupta, son of AAP MP N D Gupta, and other private persons have been removed from the board as a result of the order by the LG, and have been replaced by senior government officials.
According to the reports, the LG office stated that the nominations by the party had been made illegally. “Delhi LG, VK Saxena has ordered for the immediate removal of AAP Spokesperson, Jasmine Shah, Son of AAP MP, ND Gupta- Navin Gupta and other private individuals, who had been illegally appointed as government Nominees on the boards of privately owned DISCOMs- BYPL, BRPL (Anil Ambani) and NDPDCL (Tata),” the statement issued by LG read.
“LG considered the matter of illegal appointment of four private people, namely, Jasmine Shah, Naveen D Gupta, Umesh Tyagi and JS Deswal as government nominees on behalf of Delhi Power Company Limited (DPCL) on the Board of Directors of discoms which was issued in gross violation of provisions of Rule,” the statement further stated.
Delhi L-G orders immediate removal of AAP’s #JasmineShah & Naveen ND Gupta, who had been ‘illegally’ appointed as govt nominees on the board of Pvt DISCOMS & are also accused of benefitting private companies.@NiyamikaS briefs about allegations leveled against the leaders. pic.twitter.com/HpRAEicpfw
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 11, 2023
The announcement referred to the appointments as unlawful and said that the two had collaborated with private individuals on the boards of DISCOMs owned by Anil Ambani in order to benefit them to the tune of Rs 8000 crore at the expense of the public coffers.
“Invoking difference of opinion under Article 239AA of the Constitution of India, after the Arvind Kejriwal government persisted in their continuance on these boards, despite proven misconduct and maleficence on their part, by way of benefiting the Ambani-owned DISCOMs to the tune of more than 8000 crores, at the cost of government exchequer, Saxena had referred the matter to the President of India for a decision. He had asked for the removal of the above-mentioned political appointees on the DISCOMs boards with immediate effect, pending the President’s decision, and asked for senior government officials to replace them on the boards of the DICOMS,” the LG Office statement read.
A 49% share in the DISCOMs is owned by the Delhi government. Previously, senior officers served on the boards of the DISCOMs, but the Arvind Kejriwal administration began nominating people with political affiliations to them, according to a statement from the Delhi LG office.
According to the LG office, there was a quid pro quo agreement including commissions and bribes for the AAP nominees on the DISCOMs. “Instead of acting vigilant in the interest of the people and government of Delhi, acted in cahoots with the BRPL and BYPL boards facilitated a decision by their boards to decrease the LPSC rates from 18 per cent to 12 percent, and in the process unduly benefitted them to the tune of Rs 8468 crores- an amount that would have gone to the Delhi Government exchequer,” it stated.
The AAP government meanwhile criticized LG V K Saxena’s decision to remove Kejriwal government-appointed members from DISCOMs boards and called it unconstitutional and illegal. “The LG has started a new trend of reversing decisions taken by the elected government of Delhi,” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday.
He also dismissed the allegation that the members appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government provided benefits to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore to the private DISCOMs. The LG can get the alleged scam investigated by any central agency, he remarked.
