Skip to main content

Top Bureaucrats Suspended Amid Glare On Delhi Liquor Policy

Top Bureaucrats Suspended Amid Glare On Delhi Liquor Policy

The CBI is probinf the allegations surrounding the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. (Representationa)

New Delhi:

Two senior bureaucrats were suspended on Monday by the Union Home Ministry amid a widening probe and an all-out BJP vs AAP political battle over Delhi's now-overturned liquor sales policy that has also ensnared Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The then Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari were suspended days after Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, the BJP-led government's representative in Delhi, cleared the move.

Within months of taking over the position, he had ordered disciplinary proceedings for "serious lapses" against 11 officers in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

Amid an intensifying face-off between the Lieutenant Governor's office and the Delhi government over the liquor sales policy, Mr Saxena had approved the suspension of 11 officers of the Excise department, including Mr Krishna and Mr Tiwari on August 6.

An Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, Mr Krishna was the Excise Commissioner when the policy was formulated and implemented last year. Mr Tiwari, a Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) officer, was serving as the Deputy Commissioner under Manish Sisodia.

The others suspended by the Delhi Lt Governor were Assistant Commissioners Pankaj Bhatnagar, Narinder Singh, Neeraj Gupta, Section Officers Kuljeet Singh, Subhash Ranjan and Suman and Dealing Hands Satya Brat Bhargav, Sachin Solanki and Gaurav Mann.

Last month, the Delhi Lt Governor had also recommended a CBI probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, putting Mr Sisodia, in charge of the excise department, directly in the line of fire and prompting raids by the central agency soon after.

The move followed a report submitted by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar on the matter, which alleged corruption and violation of transaction of business rules.

The report alleged that undue benefits were provided to liquor vend licensees for "kickbacks" and "commissions".

The new excise policy had been introduced by the Delhi government to increase government revenue, improve the consumer experience, reduce corruption and equitably redistribute liquor shops. Under the new policy, implemented in November last year, only private liquor shops could run in the capital.

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/RpZq5yw https://ift.tt/b7a3L8W
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...