NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Thursday hit back at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for questioning his role in new Delhi Municipal Council law officer M M Khan’s murder case. A statement issued from Jung’s office said: “MM Khan’s murder is a tragedy, claims of AAP are frivolous and therefore attempt to draw political mileage from this tragedy is sad.”
The statement issued by the Lieutenant Governor’s office said the Delhi Police arrested seven people within 24 hours, adding full recovery was made and further investigations are on. “Further, on receipt of a proposal from the Chief Minister, the Lt. Governor promptly approved a compensation of Rupees 1 crore to the family of the deceased officer,” the statement said.
The statement comes just days after Jung sent Delhi hotelier Ramesh Kakkar's petition against Khan to the NDMC asking for "action as per law" following reports that the official was allegedly murdered for refusing to take bribe from him.
“A letter from Prominent Hotels Limited was submitted by Maheish Girri, MP, East Delhi to Lt. Governor on May 10, 2016, stating that in any dispute between the Licensee and the Licensor, arbitration would rest before Lt. Governor of Delhi under Clause 54 of the License Deed dated July 16, 1982. This letter was forwarded to Chairperson, New Delhi Municipal Council on May 11,12016 for necessary action as per law”.
“Subsequently, an arbitration petition dated 12.05.2016 was also submitted by the same Licensee in this Secretariat. This was also forwarded to Chairperson, New Delhi Municipal Council, for being legally examined and to intimate action taken/position in the matter. It needs to be mentioned that the matter had been duly processed on file in this Secretariat on May 16, 2016, prior to the tragic death of Khan, and the letter dated May 17, 2016 was issued in the normal course, without the knowledge of the tragic death”.
The Lieutenant Governor’s office stated that in response to the above, two letters dated May 19 and June 3 from Joint Director (Estates), New Delhi Municipal Council stated that the License Deed had been cancelled and the cancellation was upheld by the Apex Court and thus attained finality; as such, the arbitration clause did not survive and the said reference had been filed by NDMC.
“The position was duly noted in this Secretariat and vide letter dated June 22of this Secretariat, Chairman, New Delhi Municipal Council was directed to ensure effective and expeditious action in the matter in pursuance of Hon’ble Supreme Court order as also take all consequential action as per law. The matter was therefore dealt strictly as per rules and procedure. This indeed is the established procedure that is followed when such representations are received,” the statement said.