Amid the row over ministerial jurisdiction over crucial Crime Investigation Department in Haryana, state Home Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said the CM is supreme and he can take away or divide any department.
Vij made the remark days after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the CID remained under the chief minister's charge in the Bansi Lal and Devi Lal governments.
The row erupted recently after the state government's two official websites showed the CID under the chief minister's charge and Vij took exceptions to it, saying "governments are not run by websites", but "the rule of law".
Though the state government later removed the websites' content showing the CID among the CM's portfolios, CM Khattar last week said the CID was under erstwhile chief ministers Bansi Lal and Devi Lal in the past.
Asked if grounds are being prepared to take away CID from him, Vij told reporters in Ambala on Tuesday, "The chief minister is supreme. If he wants to divide a department, he can do that; if he wants to take away a department, he can do that. I never raised any objection to this (on what CM can do).
"There is no need to make any preparation because the chief minister is supreme and he can give direct orders to officers and seek information from them," Vij added.
"But when so much is going on over this issue, I feel there may be some other intention behind this, the senior BJP leader, who is a six-term MLA from Ambala Cantt, added.
While recalling that the CID's charge was held by Bansi Lal and Devi Lal as chief ministers, Khattar last week had sought to play down the row over who is in charge of the CID, the government's intelligence gathering agency.
It is not a big issue. It is a technical issue. We will find some way out in that technical issue and we have discussed this matter, Khattar had told reporters in Panchkula.
Earlier after the government websites showed CID as part of the CM's portfolio, Vij had fumed, "Governments are not run by websites. They are run by the rule of law."
He had said according to the Business of Haryana Government (Allocation) Rules, 1974, the CID was part of the Home Department.
This allocation can be changed, but cited procedure which he claimed must be followed, he had added.
The CM is supreme and, if he wishes, he can also change it. But for that, it has to be passed by the Cabinet and then later in Vidhan Sabha, Vij had then said.
The Haryana chief minister holds 17 different portfolios in the present Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party government.
Vij holds the Home portfolio and ministries of Health and Urban Local Bodies.
Earlier, there were reports that Vij had pulled up the CID for allegedly not sharing information sought by him on assembly polls and had also marked a dissent note to the chief minister over the transfer of nine IPS officers without taking him into confidence.
Vij had also formed a three-member panel to suggest improvements in the CID's functioning.
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