New Delhi, Mar 2 (IANS): Congress president Sonia Gandhi Wednesday met Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and discussed the corruption charges against Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan who allegedly tried to shield a resort in a tax evasion case, official sources said.

The sources said Gandhi and Dikshit had a nearly half-an-hour-long meeting.

"The Congress high command is said to have directed Dikshit to remove Chauhan from the council of ministers," a Delhi government official said.

The Delhi Lokayukta recommended the removal of Chauhan from the council of ministers.

The Lokayukta Feb 24 criticised the minister for trying to influence a team of sales tax officers which was examining a case of possible tax evasion at a resort in south Delhi.

This is the first time that the Lokayukta has recommended the removal of a Delhi minister.

"The Lokayukta has recommended to the president of India (Pratibha Patil) to withdraw her pleasure in allowing Chauhan to continue as a minister in the Delhi government," a Lokayukta official said.

Quoting the order pronounced by the Lokayukta, Justice Manmohan Sarin, the official said the president is the competent authority to withdraw pleasure from the minister to hold office under clause five of Article 239 (AA) of the Indian constitution and Section 12 of Delhi Lokayukta-Uplokayukta Act, 1995.

The Lokayukta has also recommended prosecution of the minister under various sections of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004.

The Lokayukta had taken suo motu action on media reports that VAT Commissioner Jalaj Srivastava had written to the Delhi government saying that a minister had asked him to recall an enforcement team from the survey.

When IANS tried to contact Rajkumar Chauhan, he was not available for comments.