By – lovely Singh
By cutting off Delhi’ Government’s executive arm, the central govt. has introduced “The government of National capital territory of Delhi Amendment Bill,2021 in a parliament ,granting the lieutenant Governor an extensive power to intervene in the functions of elected government is really a regressive move .With the passing and implementation of this contentious Bill , it has revived the long – standing Power tussle between the Aap dispensation and the centre ,no Doubt .This draconian move taken by the central govt has aggravated the situation.The bill seeks to give more power to the Delhi- Lieutenant governor in comparison to the elected Government. It would mean the “government”in Delhi means the “Lieutenant governor” now.After the implementation of bill , the Delhi government has to send their legislative proposal to the L-G at least 14 days in advance ,and ask the elected government to avoid delays. Along with this ,the L-G now holds the enormous power to refer the bill to the centre/ president when s/he disagree with the elected Government. Besides there is another provision is Given that is if the L-G consider a matter urgent ,s/he can take immediate decision even after if the matter is pending with the president. The 2018 supreme court judgement that circumstance centre’s ambit to control over polish, public order and land ensured uneasy ceasefire, allowing Delhi government to Exercise his adminstrative procedure smoothly without any intervention. By mandating Lieutenant Governor’s opinion before any decision of the State cabinet or govt. is taken, the amendment seeks to override the judgement by the five – judge constitutional bench headed by then ,the CJI Deepak Mishra that “council of ministers didn’t need to concurrence on every issues Of day by day”. The apex court without striking one single dissent in a 536 page order ,clause by clause , had purported or clarified the difference between the construction arrangement design for Delhi and for any another union territory.With the passage of 69th constitutional Amendment In 1991, article 239 AA was added to the constitution which envisioned a representative form of government for the NCT of Delhi which untill then was just known as Delhi administration,With officers reporting directly to the lieutenant governor. there were no minister’s and public scant interference.it was only after 1991, a constitutional amendment was passed that parliament enacted NCT of Delhi act 1991based on the constitutional mandate.According to clause 2 Of article 239 AA that supreme court accords overriding primacy. The constitutional amendment also provided for Delhi legislative assembly to have the power to pass legislation on all subjects on the state and concurrent lost of the constitution except – polish , public order and land. these three subject remained under the supervision of Central government, that is to be administered by the L-G of the Delhi and Barring from difference of opinion between the LG and the elected Government. Further it is purported that Lieutenant Governor has not been entrusted with any independent Decision-making power. He has to either act in aid and on advice or is bound to act on the boarder of the president if any matter referred by LG to him.Leaving aside constitutional and the supreme court’s judgement ..let us consider what are the ground realities that created a bumpy ride for Kejriwal govt.It is not the the first time when these kind of power tussle arises between elected govt and the centre itself. The year 2015 when Arvind Kejriwal reined the throne of Delhi legislative assembly, the seed of tussle flourished between state govt and LG. Before Aap dispensation, earlier congress party also witnessed the same fragile condition. But finally the NDA Government somehow managed to curtail elected government power’ which is a retrograde development for the the federalism as well as for the Delhiites.Some landmark decision has been enjoyed by the citizens including the privatisation of Power by unbundling the Delhi vidyut board, the flagging off of Delhi metro – ,also by amending the Municipal corporation act 1956 act , which provided enormous relief to harrassed home owners , implemented odd even scheme for the cleaning air condition of capital City and many more pathbreaking bill has been passed by the Delhi government which is much accepted and gain majority among the citizens of Delhi and resulted The Aam Aadmi party successfully managed to secure their emphatic victory in the capital city twice from 2015 .unfortunately NDA’ government’s effort to secure majority in the previous legislation assembly elections go invain ,so that somehow by introducing this (amendment) bill in both rajya sabhya or lok sabha, Bjp indirectly wanted to rule over the capital City .The amendment is deeply regressive decision. It paves a clear way to criticise the democracy that is being downgraded since political power is getting centralised. A situation when an elected government has to relay on the opinion of the unelected government for the adminstrative function ,it will definitely lowered the standard of our secred democracy or lead to slow down its functions. This will direct impacted on the quality of life of capital city. centre must not patronised it’s political centralisation.they need to respect the federalism and back off from this unethical or unconstitutional step.
