DDCD vice-chairman Jasmine Shah restricted from discharging duties following LG order, say officials

New Delhi: Delhi government think tank DDCD's vice-chairman Jasmine Shah has been restricted from discharging his duties and his office sealed while the facilities enjoyed by him have been withdrawn following an order by the LG, officials said Friday.

Lieutenant General V K Saxena has also asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to remove Shah from the post of DDCD vice-chairman over allegations of misusing his office for "political purposes", official sources said.

Reacting to the development, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted, "Jasmine's office has been locked by LG alleging that he is AAP spokesperson. Then the office of Sambit Patra, who is ITDC



chairman, should also be sealed since he is a spokesperson of the BJP." 

According to official sources, Shah was given two opportunities to reply to the show-cause notice issued by the director of the planning department on October 17 over charges of "misusing public office" by acting as the "official spokesperson" of the AAP. But he failed to submit a reply, they said.  "Instead, he said the reply was submitted to the minister of the planning department. The LG office wrote a letter to the chief minister's office on November 4, seeking to know his reply. But the chief minister's office, till now, has not replied to the letter.