New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is conducting a “special audit” into the alleged irregularities in the 2020 renovation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, the lieutenant governor’s (L-G) secretariat said in a statement Tuesday.
According to the statement, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs recommended the audit on the basis of a recommendation letter from the L-G’s secretariat detailing the alleged irregularities.
The development comes a month after Delhi’s vigilance department flagged several “irregularities” in the renovation undertaken in 2020. In its report on 12 May, the department claimed it had found, among other things, designer accessories and fittings worth Rs 48 lakh, artistic and ornamental work amounting to Rs 5 crore, marble work worth Rs 2.4 crore, a sauna bath and jacuzzi worth Rs 20 lakh, and a fancy modular kitchen worth over Rs 1 crore.
The report also flagged environmental violations, including the felling of trees, and claimed that several rules were flouted during the renovation.
The CAG audit has drawn a sharp response from the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which condemned the move and claimed it came despite a CAG inquiry last year finding nothing.
“Conducting a CAG inquiry is a prerogative of an elected government, and by interfering in the affairs of the Delhi government, the central government is violating constitutional principles,” the AAP statement read, while calling the move a systemic targeting of opposition leaders.
On the other hand, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) welcomed the move, with Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva claiming that the inquiry would “soon reveal under whose pressure the PWD officials violated laws”.
The development is the latest flashpoint between the L-G and the AAP government, who have been at loggerheads for months now.
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‘Concocted’
The Delhi CM’s official residence is located at 6 Flagstaff Road, Civil Lines. In its report to Lieutenant Governor V.K.Saxena, the vigilance department pegged the total cost of renovating the chief minister’s official residence at Rs 33.49 crore and the camp office at Rs 19.22 crore.
The latest development comes a week after the vigilance department issued show cause notices to seven officials from the Public Works Department — which carried out the renovation — over the alleged violations.
“The L-G, in his letter, underlined that these violations/extravagant expenditure took place, as the report points out, inter alia, at the behest of the ‘Hon’ble CM Madam’ during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic when the nation as well as Delhi were reeling under acute distress,” according to an official at the L-G’s secretariat.
The letter was purportedly referring to Kejriwal’s wife Sunita.
In its statement, AAP called the audit a “carefully orchestrated drama”.
“The concocted allegations, ranging from the so-called liquor scandal to alleged irregularities in the reconstruction of the CM’s residence, are part of a carefully orchestrated drama designed to divert public attention from the massive scams involving Adani, which continue unabated under the protective umbrella of Prime Minister Modi,” the statement said.
“Liquor scam” refers to allegations of irregularities in Delhi’s excise policy. AAP leader Manish Sisodia is among several people arrested in connection with that case.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)