Delhi CM’s house work: 2 officers suspended on LG’s orders, 5 others to face court

Two Delhi Police officers have been suspended and criminal proceedings have been initiated against five others who are said to have been involved in the construction and renovation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence at Flag Staff Road, Civil Lines.

In a letter sent to the director general of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Tuesday, the Delhi government’s vigilance department said Lt Governor VK Saxena has recommended action, ranging from suspension to disciplinary action, against the five officers as they have retired or been transferred outside Delhi and come under the jurisdiction of the CPWD.

The two suspended officers are Executive Engineer Vinay Chaudhary and Assistant Engineer Rajat Kant.

This is the first action of its kind in the case, in which notices requesting evidence were sent to all seven officers a year ago.

The matter of renovating the house was first officially raised last year when the Supervision Department asked questions about the costs and procedure for carrying out the work.

While Kejriwal is still in custody after his arrest in Delhi excise cases, his family lives at his official residence. The area also includes the CM’s camp office.

The officers against whom action has been initiated include two who have retired: AK Ahuja, then chief engineer, and Shibnath Dhara, then executive engineer (central and new divisions). Disciplinary action for “serious punishment” has been recommended against both.

The other three officers are

PK Parmar, then Chief Engineer (East), Ashok Kumar Rajdev, Chief Engineer and Abhishek Raj, who was appointed as Chief Engineer.

Vinay Chaudhary and Rajat Kant declined to comment.

Asked to comment, Ahuja said, “I retired in September 2020 and the tender was floated in October. The work was awarded in December… There may have been some mistake and in my reply to the show cause notice, I had mentioned that I retired when the work on this project started… The notice sent to me mentioned that I had recommended demolition of the structure but it was done by the Chief Engineer and not me.”

Abhishek Raj said he will wait for the CPWD to take a decision on the matter.

The others – Shibnath Dhara, PK Parmar and Ashok Kumar Rajdev – were unavailable for comment.

Last year, the Vigilance Department had issued a summons to the officers, accusing them of “wasteful expenditure” of nearly Rs 53 million on the renovation and reconstruction of the official residence.

They were asked to respond to allegations of various “acts and omissions” on their part, based on a report prepared by the department on the matter.

“It has been noticed that these officers are adopting delaying tactics and have no say in the matter… These officers have also approached the court but no court has granted them any relief in four rounds of legal proceedings,” the vigilance department’s letter to the CPWD director general stated.

The CPWD, a government official said, has received the recommendations. “Any action will have to be approved by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar,” the official said.

The Vigilance Department has also asked the CPWD to prepare a report on the action taken in this regard.

As per the notice to the disability welfare officers issued last year, Kejriwal was only entitled to a place in a home below category VIII accommodation and the current home was “disproportionately high” as compared to the set norms.

The statement also said that the built-up and plinth area increased from 1,397 sq m to 1,905 sq m during the project and that an additional Rs 6.94 crore was spent on “higher specification works”.

This included “doing artistic work on the ornamental stucco above the RCC”; a skylight above the main staircase; and use of Burmese teak. They were also asked to explain why the old structure at 6 Flagstaff Road was demolished without a survey report and why the plans for the construction of a new building constructed by PWD were not approved.

The vigilance department had earlier informed that the PWD had spent an amount of around Rs 52.71 crore on the residential complex attached to the chief minister’s office camp and that the construction work at the residence was marked as extension and reconstruction, but an entire building was constructed to replace the existing structure.