Government to go by rules on Arvind Kejriwal's plea for waiver

NEW DELHI: The government "will go by rules" while deciding the plea of social activist Arvind Kejriwal, a key aide of Anna Hazare, to waive "violations" of service norms as he was issued a notice by Income Tax department to pay dues of Rs 9.27 lakh.

"We will go by rules (in Kejriwal's case)," Minister of State for Personnel and Training V Narayanasamy told PTI.

The Office of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT) had on August five issued a notice to Kejriwal, an IRS officer, asking him to pay up, 11 days ahead of Hazare's fast demanding a strong Lokpal.

The CCIT office issued the notice to Kejriwal to clear the dues alleging he violated the bond clauses under which he went for a study leave for two years.

Kejriwal claimed he "did not violate" any bond provision and he resigned from the job after the stipulated three years of rejoining duty after study leave.

Meanwhile, Income Tax department sources said Kejriwal was transferred to Chandigarh on promotion in March 2003 but he did not take up his posting as the Joint Commissioner of I-T and informed his superior authorities about his decision.

The CCIT office in Delhi had written to him in 2007 and 2008 for clearing his dues and Kejriwal responded to them with a plea to waive his dues.

The latest notice of August 5 to the activist had been sent after an RTI application was received by the Finance Ministry in February this year, enquiring the service status of Kejriwal as to whether he was still a government employee or not.