CNG kit scam: MHA has no power to stop Delhi Govt probe, says Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) does not have the power to stop the inquiry ordered by the Delhi Government on the CNG kit scam and added that the state government was well within its rights to probe the matter.

"MHA does not have powers to stop the Delhi Government's inquiry. If a government is conducting an inquiry into corruption, then the MHA should support it. They are instead opposing it. They do not have powers to stop an inquiry into dishonesty, and, we will not listen to them," Sisodia told media here.

"Left to them, they will say that there is no government in Delhi and that elections never took place. But there is Constitution in the country, and according to the Constitution other than police, public order and land, all the other subjects are with the Delhi Government. If there is corruption, then the Delhi Government is well within its rights to investigate it," he added.

In a strongly worded letter to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Sisodia criticized the home ministry for declaring the Delhi Government's inquiry commission on the CNG kit scam as 'null and void'.

The letter stated that the AAP-led Government in Delhi was not a subordinate department of the home ministry and alleged that the MHA was trying to encroach upon the domain of the judiciary.

The Delhi's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) had reopened the 2002 scam which took place under the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress Government in which three top officials are under the scanner.

In 2012, the ACB had launched a probe after it found that the then Delhi Government had incurred a loss of Rs. 100 crore in awarding the contract of operation and maintenance of inspection and certification of the CNG vehicles.