AAP moves resolution against Centre’s notification, calls it ‘insult’ to ‘biggest mandate’
Agencies
NEW DELHI, MAY 26
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday moved a resolution in the assembly declaring a Union home ministry notification curbing the Delhi government’s powers as unconstitutional, a step that could deepen an all-out turf war between chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung.The AAP government plans to pass the resolution on Wednesday and send it to the president for his intervention, setting the stage for greater confrontation between the Centre and state government over the notification that also curbed the Delhi government’s anti-corruption department.
On the first day of an emergency assembly session called to discuss the notification, AAP legislator Adarsh Shastri also demanded a resolution be passed in the assembly to amend the Constitution, which will enable state legislatures to impeach governors and lieutenant governors. Shastri said this was his personal view which some experts called absurd.
“There is no such provision. The President appoints the LG and only he can remove him. Impeachment is a difficult process for removing officials like a judge. One House of the Parliament frames charges, the other investigates,” said SK Sharma, a former Lok Sabha secretary who also served as Delhi assembly secretary from 1993 to 2002. “What the MLA proposed in the Delhi assembly is just a cheap gimmick.”
There was ruckus in the House when the BJP’s three legislators protested against a comment by the Speaker who then called in marshals and they escorted BJP leader OP Sharma out of the assembly.
The power struggle between Kejriwal and Jung is rooted in Delhi’s unique position as a union territory functioning as the Capital, with the state government having no power over several important departments and agencies that function under the lieutenant governor, who reports to the Centre.
“Tomorrow the central government can say that you don’t have control over the sources of water so you can't supply water to the city,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said in the House. “The issuance of the notification is an insult to the biggest mandate given by Delhi’s people.”
The AAP scored a landslide victory in this year’s Delhi elections, winning 67 of the Capital’s 70 seats with promises to uproot corruption and offer of cheap water and power.
The NDA government’s notification issued last week barred Delhi’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) from registering cases against officers and political functionaries of the central government.
However, the Delhi high court ruled on Monday that the ACB had the authority to investigate central government officials, including the city’s police personnel.
Alleging that the notification was in violation of the Constitution, Sisodia said his government moved the resolution in the House as attempts were being made to “curb the rights” of a democratically-elected government.
“Delhi was plagued by corruption. People have given us a massive mandate to run the government. This government has taken corruption head on and achieved unprecedented success,” he said. “The Centre is trying to thwart the Delhi government's attempts. The ACB has done unprecedented work in the last 100 days despite several odds.”
Kejriwal met Jung before the two-day assembly session kicked off on Tuesday and, according to sources, the chief minister showed the L-G the high court order and outlined his views on the issue.
PTI
KOLKATA, MAY 26
Striking a conciliatory note, the Centre on Tuesday said it will not interfere with the functioning of the AAP government, a day after it was hauled by the Delhi high court over the "suspect" notification that gave the LG massive powers in some matters.
While affirming that there would be no interference by the Centre, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, however, said everybody should work within the constitutional framework.
"Everybody should work within the constitutional provisions. And I would like to add that Delhi government has been elected by the people and the central government will not create any hurdles in the functioning of Delhi government. We will also give them full cooperation," Singh told a press conference in Kolkata.
His comments came on a day the AAP government moved a resolution in the assembly against the Centre's notification giving "absolute" powers to the LG on transfer and posting of senior bureaucrats and restraining the anti-corruption bureau from probing central government employees.
In a boost for the AAP dispensation, locked in a bitter turf war with LG Najeeb Jung, the Delhi high court had on Monday termed as "suspect" the Centre's recent notification barring Delhi government's anti-corruption branch (ACB) from acting against its officers in criminal offences and held that the LG cannot act in his discretion.
The high court had noted that LG of government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) is bound to act upon the aid and advice of the council of ministers who are directly elected by the citizens of Delhi and the Centre's "executive fiat" siding with him is "suspect".
It observed that mandate of the people "must" be respected by the LG of GNCTD if there was no other "constitutional or legal fetter". Singh said that the Narendra Modi government believes in constructive cooperative federalism.
"We feel and believe that there is a need for constructive and cooperative federalism. And that is the reason why we have increased the revenue sharing between the states and the Centre from 32 per cent to 42 per cent," Singh said.
