New Delhi, January 11
The Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) has claimed in a report that the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government flouted all rules while drafting the controversial excise policy, resulting in a loss of Rs 2,026 crore to the exchequer. felt Portions of this report are publicly available. These findings of the ‘leaked’ CAG report have come to light at a time when the polls for the Delhi Assembly are to be held on February 5.
According to the report, there were many irregularities during the drafting of the excise policy such as lack of transparency in price fixing, irregularities in issuance and renewal of licences, non-punishment of violators, lack of necessary approvals from the Lt. Governor, Cabinet or the Legislative Assembly. The CAG report said that the government exchequer suffered a loss of around Rs 890 crore due to non-re-tendering of retail liquor licenses surrendered by the AAP government. The report said that the government incurred an additional loss of Rs 941 due to the discount given in zonal licences.
According to the report, the group of ministers headed by the then minister Manish Sisodia allegedly did not take any action on the recommendations made by the expert committee and included several ineligible entities in the license bid. It is certain that Kejriwal, Sisodia and other government officials had to face money laundering and corruption cases due to alleged irregularities in the excise policy. After parts of the CAG report became public, the political temperature is expected to rise in Delhi, where AAP is trying to return to power for the fourth time in a row. Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5, while the results will be announced on February 8. AAP has 62 MLAs and BJP has 8 in the current assembly. – IANS
