Kerjiwal-Jung feud means Bihar police ACB transfers have no work

With no end in sight to the turf war between the chief minister and lieutenant-governor, the seven Bihar Police officers transferred to the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) are forced to sit idle in office every day as they have not been assigned any work for nearly three months.

ACB sources said to date they haven’t been given as much as a preliminary inquiry to conduct. Fed up of sitting without any work, the officers have gone on leave a few times.

“They are not being sent back or given any work. They spend most of their time in their cubicle and do not interact much with anyone. During the first week, some complaints had been marked to them and they were conducting inquiries but after the face-off between the L-G and the CM over their deputation as well as the appointment of a new ACB chief, they do not have any work. They are all officers who draw a salary of Rs 50,000-90,000,” said an ACB officer, requesting anonymity.

Last month, one of the inspectors even approached the ACB chief wishing to be sent back to the Bihar Police, the source said.

The seven officers — a deputy superintendent of police, four inspectors and two sub-inspectors — can be seen napping in the afternoon in a room of the Vikas Bhawan office, after they are done reading the newspapers.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had brought the men on deputation through his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar as he couldn’t get Delhi Police officers.

As the deputation was not approved by lieutenant-governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung, the L-G appointed ACB chief MK Meena has refused to acknowledge the men as officers of the anti-graft body.

They had joined the Delhi ACB in the last week of May.