Why did LG Najeeb Jung give ‘safe exit’ to Sheila Dikshit aide H R Khajuria?
22 Sept 2014 4:27 AM IST
DSPCA, which has its own police unit (independent of Delhi police) headed by an inspector, has gained notoriety as an ‘organised extortion racket’ allegedly taking money from cattle and poultry-sellers crossing Delhi or en route to Ghazipur abattoir. And at the helm of it all has been DSPCA’s former chairperson, H R Khajuria, a close aide of former Delhi CM and former Kerala governor Sheila Dikshit.
The prevalent corruption in DSPCA was brought before the union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on 16 June 2014 by a group of social activists demanding enquiry and removal of Khajuria, its corrupt ex-chairperson. Upon the instruction from Central government, Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, dissolved the board and reconstituted a management committee on 3 September to replace its then chairperson Khajuria, a political appointee, with a senior bureaucrat (IAS). However, fingers are now being raised at L-G Jung for providing a ‘safe exit’ to Khajuria, who was the former secretary of Delhi State Congress Committee.
‘There was no inquiry instituted against former chairman H R Khajuria or any other member or employee of the DSPCA. We are now trying to put our house in order before launching any drive to impose penalty against violators of Protection of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act,’ said Puneet Goel, development commissioner of Delhi government who has been appointed new chairperson of DSPCA.
In the confidential letter to the union agriculture minister, on 16 June 2014, the association had also alleged that the extortion money is to the tune of Rs 2 lakh per day. ‘Around 200 trucks of animals (goad, sheep, buffaloes, calves etc) and 300-400 trucks of poultry are brought into the abattoir for meat. The DSPCA cut is roughly Rs 500 per truck which translates into Rs 2-3 lakh per day,’ said Aslam (name changed) a butcher in the Ghazipur abattoir explaining the economy of the extortion racket. If we consider this liberal calculation the extortion amount roughly translates into Rs 7 to Rs 10 crore per annum. Khajuria, secretary of Delhi Congress, was appointed chairperson of the DSPCA in 1998 for one year, but was given four consecutive terms despite several charges of corruption and ‘extortion’ being raised against him. In June 2002, then L-G Vijay Kapoor appointed a committee headed by then development commissioner of Delhi to investigate into the corruption charges against Khajuria within three months.
But then Delhi CM Dikshit buried the report of the committee with a gag order. ‘The recommendations of the committee and comments of chief secretary are being examined. The term of the present DSPCA board is hereby extended till further orders,’ ordered Dikshit on 16 June 2003. However, the ‘further order’ never came.
In pursuance of an instruction of Delhi high court on 9 May 2006, the then Development Commissioner Narendra Kumar, issued an order seeking legal validity of the board from the Delhi government’s law department. However, within a fortnight he, a senior IAS officer, was shunted to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
‘The government counsel could not explain the basis on which the DSPCA Board which was constituted only for a period of one year from 10th June 2002 to 9 June 2003 could simply continue indefinitely under the order passed by the (then) CM of Delhi Sheila Dikshit without any legal reference,’ said Justice Muralidhar in his order dated 21 September 2011. It must be mentioned that the Delhi CM does not have the power to issue any such order by her own signature and only the L-G can appoint, give extension or take action against the DSPCA board.
The prevalent corruption in DSPCA was brought before the union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on 16 June 2014 by a group of social activists demanding enquiry and removal of Khajuria, its corrupt ex-chairperson. Upon the instruction from Central government, Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, dissolved the board and reconstituted a management committee on 3 September to replace its then chairperson Khajuria, a political appointee, with a senior bureaucrat (IAS). However, fingers are now being raised at L-G Jung for providing a ‘safe exit’ to Khajuria, who was the former secretary of Delhi State Congress Committee.
‘There was no inquiry instituted against former chairman H R Khajuria or any other member or employee of the DSPCA. We are now trying to put our house in order before launching any drive to impose penalty against violators of Protection of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act,’ said Puneet Goel, development commissioner of Delhi government who has been appointed new chairperson of DSPCA.
In the confidential letter to the union agriculture minister, on 16 June 2014, the association had also alleged that the extortion money is to the tune of Rs 2 lakh per day. ‘Around 200 trucks of animals (goad, sheep, buffaloes, calves etc) and 300-400 trucks of poultry are brought into the abattoir for meat. The DSPCA cut is roughly Rs 500 per truck which translates into Rs 2-3 lakh per day,’ said Aslam (name changed) a butcher in the Ghazipur abattoir explaining the economy of the extortion racket. If we consider this liberal calculation the extortion amount roughly translates into Rs 7 to Rs 10 crore per annum. Khajuria, secretary of Delhi Congress, was appointed chairperson of the DSPCA in 1998 for one year, but was given four consecutive terms despite several charges of corruption and ‘extortion’ being raised against him. In June 2002, then L-G Vijay Kapoor appointed a committee headed by then development commissioner of Delhi to investigate into the corruption charges against Khajuria within three months.
But then Delhi CM Dikshit buried the report of the committee with a gag order. ‘The recommendations of the committee and comments of chief secretary are being examined. The term of the present DSPCA board is hereby extended till further orders,’ ordered Dikshit on 16 June 2003. However, the ‘further order’ never came.
In pursuance of an instruction of Delhi high court on 9 May 2006, the then Development Commissioner Narendra Kumar, issued an order seeking legal validity of the board from the Delhi government’s law department. However, within a fortnight he, a senior IAS officer, was shunted to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
‘The government counsel could not explain the basis on which the DSPCA Board which was constituted only for a period of one year from 10th June 2002 to 9 June 2003 could simply continue indefinitely under the order passed by the (then) CM of Delhi Sheila Dikshit without any legal reference,’ said Justice Muralidhar in his order dated 21 September 2011. It must be mentioned that the Delhi CM does not have the power to issue any such order by her own signature and only the L-G can appoint, give extension or take action against the DSPCA board.
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