The DDCA on Saturday filed defamation suits in Delhi High Court against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP MP Kirti Azad for allegedly making defamatory remarks against it regarding its functioning and finances.

The DDCA on Saturday filed defamation suits in Delhi High Court against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP MP Kirti Azad for allegedly making defamatory remarks against it regarding its functioning and finances.

“We (DDCA) have filed civil defamation suits against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Kirti Azad seeking Rs. 2.5 crore as damages from each of them for their defamatory remarks against us,” DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda told PTI.

Advocate Sangram Patnaik also confirmed that the defamation suits have been filed seeking Rs. 2.5 crore damages against both of them.

He further said that the allegations against Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) regarding financial irregularities and corruption in selections at the junior level were “maligning the image” of the cricket body.

Kejriwal and five others of his party have already been dragged to the high court by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family members.

Mr. Jaitley has sought damages of Rs. 10 crore from them.

Apart from this, the six Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders are also facing a criminal defamation case filed against them in the trial court by the minister.

After the Centre declared the Delhi government's Commission of Inquiry into DDCA affairs "unconstitutional and illegal", Delhi Chief Minister snapped back via Twitter, saying this decision is not binding on him and the Commission will continue work.

DDCA enquiry commission set up by Del Govt is as per law n constitution of India. Centre's opinion not binding on Del govt(1/2) — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 8, 2016

Commission will continue work. If LG or MHA or PMO aggrieved, they may approach Court. Only a court order can stop commission's work(2/2) — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 8, 2016

"Unconstitutional, illegal"

"Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has accordingly held that the notification.....issued by the Directorate of Vigilance, Government of NCT of Delhi, is unconstitutional, illegal and therefore has no legal effect," said a letter issued by Delhi LG's office on Thursday.

The rejection of the Delhi government's decision to probe the affairs of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) comes on top of a bitter fight between the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government and the Centre after the raid on the Delhi Secretariat a month ago.

The raid had stoked a clash between the two with Kejriwal alleging that it was meant to seize some files purportedly containing details of alleged corruption in DDCA when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was its president between 1999 and 2013.

Kejriwal followed up his charge by his government decision to constitute a probe under the Commission of Inquiry Act headed by former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, who has contended that Delhi government has the authority to constitute such a probe which he would go ahead with.

As the fight continued, the Central government on Wednesday sent a communication that "the elected Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi is neither the Central Government nor the State Government within the meaning of Section 2 and 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. Therefore, it has no jurisdiction or power to set up a Commission of Inquiry under the said Act."

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs came to the conclusion after considering the provisions in Art 239 and 239 AA and read with provisions of General Clauses Act including the Government of India notification of August 1966.

The communication, which was sent to LG, said, "The council of Ministers (Delhi Government) may please be apprised accordingly, and all concerned be advised to act in conformity with the above decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India."

The AAP government had on 22 December issued a notification to set up a Commission of Inquiry to probe alleged financial irregularities in the DDCA.

With PTI