SDM’s suspension: Officials telling only half truth, says AAP
NEW DELHI: Chairman of Privileges Committee Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday claimed that the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDMs) who were recently suspended by the Chief Secretary had illegally sold the government’s land worth Rs 500 crore to private entities. He also said that he had exposed the financial irregularities in the Vidhan Sabha earlier.
Bhardwaj also alleged that he had also summoned Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar for protecting the corrupt and hiding the facts. “The Privileges Committee investigated the matter but the Lieutenant Governor’s Office tried to hide this fact by not telling the media the reason behind the suspension of the officers,” he said.
The AAP MLA added, “I raised the issue of the land scam in the assembly during the question hour. This was not only a matter about corruption but illegally transferring the government land as it’s own. The L-G Office is either misleading the L-G or he is voluntarily being misled.”
While talking about the news spread about the suspension of three SDM’s and a Deputy Secretary from the Chief Minister’s office on charges of corruption, he said, “I have key information on this issue. I questioned the Revenue Department about whether it is true that government land worth crores was transferred to private entities illegally in the Jhangola village of North Delhi. The question was raised several times in the assembly but we got no response. From January till now, the committee has been investigating the matter.”
He further said, “During the investigation, the committee several times called upon the then Divisional Commissioner Shri Sanjeev Khirwar and later the current Divisional Commissioner KR Meena. It also called DM North and their senior officers and found out that several pieces of land that were evacuee properties (properties belonging to Muslim families that left India during the time of Partition) were transferred illegally.”
He said, “The committee has found names of a few more government officers involved in financial irregularities. The disciplinary authority in this matter is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the L-G sends the file to the ministry.