Delhi’s lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung has termed state government’s appointment of former solicitor general and top lawyer Gopal Subramaniam to investigate the alleged venality at the cricket body as illegal and unconstitutional.

The union home ministry had also declared the one-person commission “null and void” because only the Centre and states were allowed to form a commission of inquiry.

As Delhi was a special state – with no powers to regulate land and police and partial control over services matters – it couldn’t constitute such a panel.

The LG’s office wrote to the Delhi government on Friday, striking down a panel set up by the Aam Aadmi Party administration to probe alleged irregularities in Delhi District Cricket Association, which was once headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley.  Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been sued for defamation by Jaitley, whom he has accused of facilitating vast corruption during his 13 years as the head of the DDCA.

In a letter to the Delhi chief secretary, the L-G’s office said the union home ministry had held that the commission of inquiry set up by the AAP government was illegal and unconstitutional.

The view in the home ministry was that the Delhi government issued the notification without Jung’s approval and the city government was not competent to constitute such an inquiry.

An earlier commission of inquiry instituted by the Delhi government to look into the CNG fitness certificate issue was also declared null and void as the ministry held the Delhi government was not a competent authority to set up this kind of inquiry under the provisions of the Constitution and the Commission of Inquiry Act of 1952.

But despite the adverse decision, the Delhi government refused to disband the Aggarwal commission of inquiry and the issue of its validity is now pending in court.