New Delhi: Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra has written to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to lodge an FIR against erstwhile CM Sheila Dikshit and several other Delhi Jal Board Board members in the steel tankers purchase scam in 2012.
In a letter to Kejriwal, the minister said that the report of the “fact finding committee on water tanker distribution management system’ was self explanatory and exposes how the then DJB Chairman and Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and other board members have consistently bypassed laws and rules to cause a loss of almost Rsc 400 crore to the DJB.
The fact finding committee was set up by Mishra on June 19.
The minister said: “I am forwarding this report to you (Kejriwal) with request that a FIR should immediately be lodged by Delhi government based on this report against all those involved in this scam. This is a big expose and I am afraid that immediately after this expose, there will be attempts to destabilize our Government in Delhi and also to remove me from this chair.”
In 2012, about 400 water tankers were acquired by the DJB which were manufactured by a private contractor after receiving complaints of irregular water service. The purchase of these water tankers was aimed at ensuring seamless service across Delhi.
The scam came to light after the Citizen’s Front for Water Democracy, led by S A Naqvi, filed a complaint with the government alleging that the purchase of the steel water tankers had caused a loss of Rs 400 crore to the exchequer. The complaint gave a detailed account on how tenders for their purchase were floated five times and finally the work was awarded in violation of the rules.
On the basis of the complaint, the government had set up a fact finding committee of five auditors – J C Atal, Gauri Shankar, Gopal Krishnan, Ashok Kumar and Mohd. Idris — to look into the matter. The committee, in its report, has concluded that Dikshit and other DJB board members had consistently bypassed laws and rules to cause a loss of almost Rs 400 crore to the state exchequer.