Delhi L-G grants CBI sanction to prosecute AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan in Waqf Board case

The case against the AAP MLA was filed in 2016 following complaints from the SDM (HQ), Revenue Department, alleging that he made arbitrary and illegal appointments to various existing and non-existing posts in Delhi Waqf Board.

Sources said the CBI investigation had revealed sufficient prosecutable evidence of commission of criminal offences and sought prosecution sanction of the L-G (the competent authority in such matters as per law established) in May 2022.

“As per investigation of the CBI, Amanatullah Khan, in connivance with Mehboob Aalam, abused his official position and deliberately ignored rules and laid down procedures to cause huge losses to the government exchequer by arbitrarily appointing individuals by manipulating recruitment procedures to favour chosen individuals over thousands of deserving people who could have got employed had the process of appointment been transparent and impartial. The basic principle of right to equality and opportunity was bypassed by Amanatullah Khan to provide undeserving and unauthorised benefits to specific pre-identified persons,” said sources.

Sources said the L-G sanctioned approval for launching criminal proceedings after carefully going through the records placed on file that prima facie provide sufficient evidence of culpability of Khan and Aalam.

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The Aam Aadmi Party in a statement said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is so scared of CM Arvind Kejriwal’s rise in the Indian political arena that he gets horrified by the thought of AAP even in his dreams. The PM and the BJP have started hating the Kejriwal government’s world-renowned work so much that they have started to put totally crass and baseless allegations upon the party and its leaders. We completely anticipate and expect many more such allegations to come up in coming days. But the Kejriwal government stands unfazed and will not deter on its mission to serve the people of Delhi.”

Official sources further said that ever since the L-G took charge, he has insisted on ending ad-hocism and favouritism in government appointments and has pushed for filling up vacancies in various departments of the GNCTD on a regular basis through due process of recruitment. “He has been emphasising on unbiased and impartial consideration of all citizens against existing vacancies on the basis of their eligibility rather than their proximity to people in positions of power,” said sources.