An Inquiry Commission has been announced by the AAP(Delhi) government to probe the multi-crore CNG fitness scam (scam in the transport department) in which a number of officials of previous Sheila Dikshit government were under scanner which will be headed by retired Delhi High Court judge Justice S N Agarwal .
• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal decided to appoint the commission into the scam which is already being probed by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).
• Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain said that the one-man commission, appointed under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, will be chaired by a former judge of the Delhi and the Madhya Pradesh high courts.
• The commission is expected to complete its probe within three months from the date of its first sitting.
- CNG Fitness Scam:
- • The scam had come to light in 2012 when ACB found that the Delhi government had lost nearly Rs 100 crore under the carpet.
• A case was registered with the ACB in 2012 based on a complaint by Vivek Garg, an RTI activist.
• The complaint claimed that several officials of the Delhi government had “colluded” to irregularities in awarding of contract to operate and maintain inspection and certification of CNG vehicles at the transport authority in Burari to ESP India Pvt Ltd instead of ESP USA.
• The case probe got stuck as Kejriwal government resigned during the AAP’s previous 49-day stint.
• Delhi’s ACB again reopens 2002 CNG fitness scam case. - In December, the AAP had raised the issue of the scam and questioned the silence of the Union government and the L-G on the alleged involvement of top bureaucrats in the case.
- According to sources in the Delhi government, the ACB is now equipped with information to re-open the case, in which the top three officers who worked under the Congress government headed by Ms. Dikshit will come under the scanner.
