New Delhi: A fresh battle is likely to start between Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as the Aam Aadmi Party government has now hired officers from Bihar for its Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).
As per reports, five Bihar cops have joined Delhi government's ACB.
As per official sources, three inspectors and two sub-inspectors of the Bihar Police have joined ACB which is currently facing manpower crunch.
The Delhi government had written to the Bihar government to make the request following which five officers were dispatched to the national capital, sources added.
Recently, Kejriwal had reached out to non-BJP chief ministers to mount political pressure on Modi government even as the matter over ACB's jurisdiction has reached the Supreme Court.
Kejriwal had conveyed to chief ministers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal among others that the Centre's notification, throwing its weight behind Lt Governor Jung, was "detrimental" to India's federal structure and it may happen to their states as well.
The Delhi Police and ACB have recently come face-to-face after some of the former's men were arrested by the anti-graft unit for allegedly accepting bribe.
The move to induct policemen from Bihar also seems to be aimed at reducing ACB's reliance on the Delhi Police as till now all its officers were derived from them.
"One has to keep the Home Ministry in loop if government employees of one state are sent to work in another state. In this case, it must be the LG. We don't know whether the LG or the MHA is in loop in this connection," said a senior government official.
ACB's request for nearly 600 officers, including around 24 inspectors, is pending with Delhi Police top brass which has been citing its own staff crunch for delay in providing the demanded manpower.
The ACB, which is probing a number of high-profile case, was barred from registering any case against officers and political functionaries of the Central government which includes the Delhi Police which works under MHA.
However, the Delhi High Court held that ACB of NCT government has the jurisdiction to arrest policemen while dismissing the bail application of a head constable who was arrested by ACB in a corruption case. The matter is currently pending in the Supreme Court.
The AAP government and the Lt Governor have been involved in a public spat over his powers vis-a-vis an elected government. The Centre had on May 21 issued a notification siding with the Lt Governor.
Speaking at a special Assembly session last week, Kejriwal had said that the notification conferring more powers on Lt Governor Jung was part of an "experiment" to take the country towards "dictatorship."
In the notification, the Centre had given absolute powers to the LG in appointment of bureaucrats while also clarifying that he need not "consult" the chief minister on subjects like police and public order.
(With PTI inputs)
