Delhi Cabinet Minister Archives - Lokmarg

AAP MLAs Atishi, Saurabh Take Oath As Delhi Min

By LokMarg 9th March 2023

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj were sworn in as Ministers in the Delhi cabinet on Thursday.

The swearing-in ceremony took place in the Auditorium at Raj Niwas, Delhi.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena administered the oath to newly inducted ministers.

“In terms of the notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Atishi Marlena and Saurabh Bharadwaj have been appointed as Ministers in the National Capital Territory of Delhi,” read the official statement from the General Administration Department.

This comes after President Droupadi Murmu Tuesday accepted the resignations of former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Minister Satyendar Jain, both currently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

President Murmu on Tuesday appointed Atishi and Bharadwaj as ministers in the Delhi cabinet on the advice of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, with effect from the date they are sworn in, stated Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kejriwal had forwarded the names to the Lieutenant Governor for their appointment to the Cabinet.

Atishi represents the Kalkaji constituency and has been a key member of Sisodia’s education team.

She had also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi constituency and lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir.

Bharadwaj, the party’s national spokesperson, had served the Delhi Jal Board as its vice chairman. The legislator from Greater Kailash was also a minister during the first stint of the AAP government.

The Delhi council of ministers now has a strength of five, including CM Arvind Kejriwal, who does not hold any portfolios.

Sisodia had resigned from his all 18 posts following his arrest in the alleged excise policy scam.

After former Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain’s arrest last year, seven portfolios handled by him were shifted to Sisodia, who was looking after 18 departments when he was arrested.

He is now lodged in Tihar’s jail after Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent him to judicial custody till March 20.

The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Delta Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

The Delhi government’s version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience.

The CBI had filed a case against alleged corruption in the 2021-22 excise policy. The excise policy was subsequently withdrawn by the AAP government.

Sisodia was among 15 others booked in an FIR filed by the CBI. Excise officials, liquor company executives, dealers, some unknown public servants and private persons were booked in the case.

It was alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the Excise Policy and undue favours were extended to the license holders including waiver or reduction in licence fee, an extension of L-1 license without approval etc. (ANI)

AAP Legislators Bhardwaj, Atishi Likely To Be Elevated As Ministers

By LokMarg 1st March 2023

In a major rejig in the Delhi cabinet necessitated by the resignations of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent the names of Aam Aadmi Party MLAs Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to be elevated as ministers, sources said on Wednesday.

The development comes after Sisodia, who headed 18 departments, and Jain, who has been in jail for months in a money laundering case, stepped down as ministers.
Sources on Tuesday had said the departments held by Sisodia will be redistributed to senior AAP leaders Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand.

“Sisodia held 18 departments, some of which will now be handled by Kailash Gahlot and the rest by Raaj Kumar Anand,” a source said on Tuesday.

Sisodia was earlier arrested by the CBI in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

Sisodia was arrested on Sunday in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the new excise policy of the Delhi government.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain Sisodia’s plea challenging his arrest in the excise policy case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the top court is not inclined to entertain the petition at this stage, suggesting that Sisodia move Delhi High Court.

“We cannot interfere in the matter as it may open the gate of people approaching the top court in every such matter,” the bench observed.

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent him to CBI custody for 5 days.

The CBI had also quizzed AAP leader Jain in Tihar Jail in connection with alleged corruption in the implementation of the now-junked Delhi Excise policy.

Jain is currently lodged in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Recently, the CBI and ED made several arrests for alleged corruption in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy. (ANI)

Early Hearing On Bail Plea Of Jain In Money Laundering Case

By LokMarg 27th October 2022

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court at Rouse Avenue Court complex on Thursday allowed the plea for an early hearing on the bail application of Delhi Minister Satyender Jain in a money laundering case.

The matter has been listed for tomorrow. He was arrested in May this year.
Special CBI judge Vikas Dhull allowed the plea for an early hearing on the bail application of Satyender Jain.

The Delhi High court on October 1, dismissed the plea of Jain challenging the trial court order transferring his money laundering case to another judge. The question is not of integrity or uprightness of the Judge but of apprehension in the mind of a party (ED), the High Court noted.

Thereafter, Jain moved to the Supreme Court. Later the plea was withdrawn.

Satyender Jain had challenged the order of September 23, 2022, passed by the Principal District and Sessions Judge transferring his money laundering case from one court to another court.

His bail plea hearing was transferred to the court of Vikas Dhull from another court after hearing the application moved by the Enforcement Directorate.

Justice Yogesh Khanna noted in the order that the question is not of integrity or uprightness of the Judge but of apprehension in the mind of a party (ED).

Justice Khanna while passing the order observed that the facts show that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not merely harbor an apprehension of bias but had acted upon it as well by rushing to the HC and therefore the apprehension cannot be said to be flimsy or not reasonable.

The court has further observed, “the apprehensions raised were not at a belated stage, as the request for an independent medical evaluation were consistently made.”

The court held that the district judge while transferring the case has considered all these aspects and therefore does not suffer from any illegality and does not require any interference.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had contended that the doctors and jail authorities were managed as the accused earlier had the Health and Jail Department portfolio as Delhi cabinet Minister.

The ED had initiated the money-laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017.

The FIR was registered under Section 13(2) and 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Ankush Jain. (ANI)