AAP minister makes new charge against chief secy

The Delhi government-run hospital Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) signed an agreement to illicitly benefit a company co-founded by chief secretary Naresh Kumar's son, according to a new report submitted by vigilance minister Atishi to the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal that accuses the top bureaucrat of irregularities, although the hospital denied any wrongdoing and called the allegations baseless.

- Snehil Sinha

The report comes days after another allegation of impropriety by the government against the chief secretary, whom it accused of helping people linked to his son Karan Chauhan make ₹850 crore in illicit profits in a deal for land near the Dwarka expressway.

To be sure, the government and senior bureaucrats, who now come under the control of the lieutenant governor, have been on a collision course for several months now, and charges have been flying on both sides.

Kumar did not respond to requests for a comment but has in recent days, in the context of the land deal allegations, welcomed an investigations, calling the allegations "a conspiracy by vested interests".

The new report, a supplementary to the one filed in connection with the Dwarka expressway case, alleges that ILBS struck a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) with MetaMix, a company it said was co-founded by Chauhan, to set up a new artificial intelligence (AI) research unit despite not having adequate qualification or track record.

Kumar, as the chief secretary, is the head of ILBS governing council.

The hospital denied the allegations, and said no payments had been made to MetaMix.