Delhi High Court refuses to halt CBI probe against MCD officials

The high court on Friday refused to halt “at this stage” an order of the Lokpal of India directing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into a complaint about alleged illegal and unauthorised constructions in the Capital against officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Justice Prathiba M Singh deferred the hearing till January 5 and asked the counsel for the MCD to supply a copy for the petition to the Lokpal after the civic body challenged a November 28 order directing investigation, contending that it was frivolous.

As senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao for the MCD urged for a stay in the proceedings before the Lokpal, the judge said, “Lokpal consists of three members with a retired high court judge… Once the Lokpal has considered the matter, there are some reasons. I have to hear them. If you make out a case on the next date, I will stay the proceedings.”

The civic body’s counsel contended that if a CBI investigation takes place in such a case, “nobody would be able to do their work” and added that by the same logic, a probe should also be ordered against the police for crimes in the city.

The court, however, said, “MCD can’t be equated with Delhi Police” and voiced its concern with respect to illegal structures. “MCD engineers are a problem. Unauthorised construction, encroachment, everything takes place. Something has to be done,” the court said.

The proceedings were initiated on a complaint by Vikram Singh Saini, a former general secretary of Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, the youth wing of the Samajwadi Party, made in December 2021 against certain MCD officials, alleging they were complicit in some “illegal constructions” in South Delhi.

In the petition, MCD claimed that the complainant, without following the requisite procedure, filed a “frivolous, unsubstantiated and a vague complaint” to the Lokpal. It said that the Lokpal passed a “blanket order” on the basis of an “incoherent and general complaint” with respect to illegal constructions in South Delhi in 2020-21.

The petition said the data unequivocally depicts a “steady decline” in the incidents of unauthorised constructions in the south zone and that officials have been discharging their duties with due diligence and coherence.

“The fact is also evident from the following figures in terms of availability of data from 2018. Of 1,141 properties booked, 606 were demolished, 223 were sealed, prosecution in 326 and letters in all such properties were duly issued,” the MCD said in its plea.