BJP to meet Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung seeking dismissal of DCW chief Swati Maliwal

New Delhi: The BJP Delhi unit on Tuesday said it will urge Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to dismiss Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal after she was booked on various charges.

"We are going to meet the Lt. Governor to demand her dismissal as no permission on the appointments (in the DCW) was taken from him," Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit chief Satish Upadhyay told IANS.

"These appointments are completely illegal and no procedures were followed," the BJP leader alleged. 

"I also want to congratulate (ACB chief M.K.) Meena for doing a fine job," he added.

Maliwal was booked under Sections 13 (Criminal misconduct by a public servant) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Monday night, the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government said.

On Monday morning, the ACB questioned Maliwal for over two hours. 

The complaint was filed on August 12 by Delhi Congress leader and former DCW head Barkha Singh Shukla who alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders were appointing their associates to the DCW and giving them financial benefits.

Shukla had named Prabhsahay Kaur, daughter of senior AAP leader H.S. Phoolka, DCW Adviser Raj Mangal Prasad and 83 others as beneficiaries. 

"There is no criteria for salaries and even advertisements were not given out for making appointments which is mandatory under law," Upadhyay said, adding "she illegally appointed her party workers and relatives".

"They also increased the budget. In the last 10 years, the commission budget was Rs 3.5 crore but now it is almost double. And for all this, no permission from the Lt. Governor has been taken. These are all irregularities," he said. 

The BJP leader said almost all female staff at the DCW was dismissed while about 80 per cent fresh appointments made were of men from amongst AAP cadres.