Delhi government wants probe by Central agencies

After the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) asked the Union Home Ministry to follow up on Shunglu Committee report on irregularities in Commonwealth Games (CWG) projects for further action, the Delhi Government now wants a "thorough" probe by "competent" Central agencies into alleged irregularities pointed out by the Committee before any punitive step is taken.

"We will seek specific inquiry into specific allegations by competent agencies. We cannot punish anybody on the basis of findings by the Shunglu Committee," a top official of the Delhi Government said. "The Chief Technical Examination Wing of the Central Vigilance Commis-sion may be asked to investigate the technical irregularities while Chief Vigilance Officer of CPWD may be asked to probe the other allegations," said the official.

The city government has already asked officials, whose names figure in the Shunglu Committee report, to submit their responses in writing to the government as soon as possible. Besides holding various agencies responsible for "irregularities", the Shunglu panel had also indicted Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for procedural violations and inadequacies in executing certain CWG projects.

The Home Ministry is likely to seek reply from Khanna and Dikshit and other agencies concerned on this.
The city government in its brief report to Prime Minister last month had rejected almost all the findings of the Shunglu panel and instead accused it of deliberately choosing to adopt a logic of "convenience" in finding corruption in every policy and every tender of the government.

The government is now preparing a detailed report in response to the Committee's findings. "There cannot be short-cut to investigation process. Due procedures must be followed. Maximum care must be taken to ensure that no innocent official is punished," said the official.

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