Delhi LG Najeeb Jung seeks Centre's opinion on AAP government's probe into CNG fitness scam

NEW DELHI: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has approached the Centre seeking its opinion on the AAP government's decision to conduct a probe into the CNG fitness scam, in which a number of officials of the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit regime were under the scanner.

In a communication, the LG apprised the Centre of setting up of a Commission of Inquiry, to be headed by a retired high court judge, to probe the alleged multi-crore CNG fitness scam by the Arvind Kejriwal government, and sought the opinion on whether the city government has the jurisdiction to do so.

Sources said that the central government will revert to the LG after obtaining legal opinion.

The one-man probe panel, being set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, will investigate all aspects of the scam. It will be headed by Justice (Retd.) S N Agarwal, a former judge of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh High Courts.

The AAP has been accusing Jung of trying to shield the officers found guilty by a CBI probe into the scam which was detected by Delhi Government's Anti-Corruption Branch in 2012.

The CNG fitness scam surfaced in 2012 when ACB found that the Delhi government had lost over Rs 100 crore by awarding the contract to operate and maintain certification of CNG vehicles at the transport authority in Burari to ESP India Private Limited, instead of ESP USA.

In June, when the AAP government had directed ACB to reopen the case, the LG's office, rejecting criticism against him, had said the Justice Mudgal Committee which had probed the case found "no mala fide" on the part of any government functionary.