MHA backs LG over issue of appointments in Delhi govt's ACB

In a fresh standoff between the Lt Governor and the AAP dispensation, the Union Home Ministry today backed the former saying no appointment can be made in the anti-corruption branch (ACB) of the Delhi government without his nod.

Justifying the Lt Governor's authority over appointments in the ACB, a senior Home Ministry official said as per the CrPC, the ACB is a police station and the police in Delhi comes under the LG.

"The LG is the final and the competent authority for appointments of police and hence approval of LG is necessary while appointing anyone in ACB as it is also a police station," the official said.

It also argued that an SHO of any state cannot be appointed in any other state arbitrarily without the stamp of approval of the competent authority.

The Home Ministry's backing of the Lt Governor comes in the wake of the latest standoff between him and the Arvind Kejriwal government over the latter's move to appoint police officers from Bihar in the ACB of Delhi.

The AAP government in Delhi and the Lt Governor have been involved in a public spat over his powers vis-a-vis an elected government.

The Centre had on May 21 issued a notification siding with the Lt Governor. The Supreme Court on May 29 refused to stay the observations of the Delhi High Court, which had termed as "suspect" the recent Centre's notification clipping powers of the AAP government, saying they were "only tentative in nature" without expressing any opinion on its validity.