Anil Vij stripped of CID charge
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana governor on Wednesday night stripped home minister Anil Vij of the charge of the criminal investigation department (CID) — a bone of contention between him and chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
The move comes a day after the BJP high command stepped in to resolve the differences between the CM and Vij over the issue. The BJP bosses, it is learnt, had conveyed Vij that Khattar will “keep control of” the department.
As per a notification issued by the chief secretary, the CID — the intelligence arm of the state police — has been allocated to CM Khattar. “Home minister Anil Vij will now cease to hold the portfolio of CID,’’ said the reallocation notification issued by the governor on CM’S advice.
A controversy had erupted a fortnight ago when government websites cited the chief minister as holding the charge of the CID. No notification was then issued by the government to make this change. Vij was quick to say that a mere mention on a website does not divest him of the CID charge. “The CM has the authority to reallocate any department to a minister. But then, a process has to be followed to do so. The governor has to issue a notification on the advice of the chief minister to reallocate the department,” he had said.
Even after it was decided on Monday night that CID will be allocated to the chief minister, Vij sounded defiant. “But till the day I am the home minister, the CID will have to report to me as I need to keep myself abreast and ready for any occurrence,’’ Vij had said.
As per the Business of the Haryana Government (Allocation) Rules, 1974, the CID is incorporated as a part of the home department and is not a standalone department. Ideally for designating CID as a separate department, the 1974 rules needed to be amended by the Cabinet. However, the government on Wednesday seems to have gone by the past precedents in reallocating the CID to the chief minister. Since 1977 successive chief ministers kept the control of CID with them even when they had a fullfledged home minister.
Vij was also piqued at the functioning of the CID and had sought the removal of its chief .