Delhi govt 'misled' HC on transfer of schools, alleges L-G's office

Alleging that the Delhi government submitted "false" statements in the high court regarding the transfer of schools for children with special needs, Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has directed the chief secretary to file an affidavit giving the "correct picture", his office said on Friday.

No immediate reaction was available from the AAP dispensation to the charge by the LG office that may kick-start a fresh round of war of words between the two sides.

"The AAP government inordinately delayed a file concerning handing over of the social welfare department's special schools for children with disability to the education department, and then misled the Delhi High Court on November 18, 2022 and again on February 17, 2023 saying that the file was pending with the LG," the LG office said in a statement.

As a matter of fact, the file was "deliberately kept pending" with the government and was sent to the LG on March 28 this year, over four months after the high court was "misled" with false assertions on two different occasions, it said.

"LG has directed the chief secretary to file an affidavit in the Delhi High Court against the deliberate false statements made by the Delhi government to mislead the high court and apprise the court of the factual status in the case," according to the statement.

In a note addressed to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the LG has stated the affidavit furnished by the government through its counsels prima facie amounts to "defamation and perjury", the statement said.

"In the instant case, it is alarming that the high court was repeatedly misled and false information was submitted before the high court. It is unheard of a government trying to hide its failure by making false statements against a constitutional head in the highest courts of law and indulging in such perjury," said the LG's note to the chief minister.

Saxena also took exception to Power Minister Atishi and the functionaries of the AAP dispensation making "blatantly false, misleading, accusatory and defamatory statements" in the media that he was trying to stop power subsidy in Delhi.

"What is even more unfortunate is the fact that such statements have your backing," the note said, citing various press releases of the power minister circulated in the past few days.

Saxena asked the chief minister to show any document that established that he had suggested withdrawing power subsidy in Delhi. Atishi has alleged that the LG and the BJP were trying to stop subsidy provided by the government to the Delhi people, including farmers and lawyers.

The AAP government and its ministers have developed an unfortunate and deplorable tendency of "lying and misleading" the people, the media and even the courts, the LG charged in his note.

Earlier, in the matter of the reconstitution of the Animal Welfare Board, the AAP government had submitted the file to the LG on December 14, 2022, just a day before the Delhi High Court was to hear the matter on December 15, and alleged in the court that the "file was pending with LG for several days, according to the note.

"Such false statements by the Delhi government in the high court amounts to defamation and perjury. It is alarming that the Delhi High Court is repeatedly being misled by the AAP government," charged the LG.

The lieutenant governor in his note requested the chief minister to "advise" his ministers to restrain from making "false, defamatory" statements and "misleading" the public.