Planning department denies more time to Jasmine Shah for replying on allegations

New Delhi, 26 October 2022: Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi’s (DDCD) Vice Chairman, Jasmine Shah’s request for an additional 10 days to answer to an allegation of “misuse of public office” against him was denied by the Delhi government’s Planning Department, officials said on Wednesday. They claimed that Shah had till October 28 to provide his response.

Earlier on October 17, Shah had received a show-cause notice from the Planning Department in response to claims of “misuse of public office” against him, which were the subject of a complaint from BJP leader and West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma.

Shah was initially given a week to write his response. He had requested an additional 10 days to respond to the notification after failing to do so within the allotted period, but he has now been told to do so by October 28 instead.

While Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, defended Shah by claiming that the lieutenant governor had no authority over the DDCD vice chairman and that only the Cabinet could question him because it had selected him.

Earlier, Verma said in his complaint dated September 13 that Jasmine Shah had “acted as the official spokesman of the Aam Aadmi Party for political benefits, which is in violation of established protocols” while serving as Vice Chairperson (DDCD). The Planning Department, DDCD, further conducted an investigation into the situation.

The department determined that Shah was using his government position and other benefits to “further an extremely partisan political agenda, specifically contrary to the laid down norms for the conduct of a public servant” after examining numerous video recordings of Shah’s appearance on TV programmes, the transcripts of press conferences he spoke at, and news articles in newspapers, news websites, etc, the sources added.