The Union Cabinet has cleared a bill that seeks to expand the powers of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi on the day to day governance issues of the National Capital Territory (NCT). The bill, named the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) 2021, will be presented in the Parliament in the ongoing budget session.
The Union government came up with the decision to pass an amendment to the Government of Delhi bill because the Supreme Court gave a decision in January 2019 that the Council of Ministers of Delhi do not need to seek the ‘concurrence’ of the LG on day-to-day issues of governance. However, since then, Kejriwal took the powers regarding the governance of the city for granted and stopped consultation with LG on most of the issues.
Therefore, the Union government has proposed the amendment which will effectively force the Delhi government to consult LG on legislative issues 15 days in advance and on administrative proposals 7 days in advance.
In the last few months, the Kejriwal government has taken many decisions which have miffed the Union government and therefore the Modi government decided to curb its power. Yesterday, the Kejriwal government asked Delhi Transport Service (DTC) to return the buses given to Delhi Police on hire. The transport department wants the buses back because the Delhi Police is utilizing those to protect the city’s borders from protestors on Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur.
“Reports taken from the DTC taken by the Delhi government have revealed that more than 20 per cent of the buses in Delhi’s depots are on special hire by the Delhi Police. During the violence on January 26, several buses were damaged,” an official told ANI.
The Delhi Police has shown utmost resilience and bravery in handling the farmer’s protests and their attack on Delhi on 26th January, but Kejriwal wants to snatch the buses from them in order to spread anarchy in the city.
The Kejriwal government has taken many decisions, including mishandling the Coronavirus pandemic, which showed its incompetence in the governance of the city where the most important dignitaries of the country live. The Kejriwal government was among the first in the country to relax lockdown and this resulted in Delhi becoming the biggest hotspot after Mumbai in terms of per capita cases.
AAP has already started crying foul over the union government’s decision. “The Union Cabinet has stealthily approved amendments to give so much power to the L-G [lieutenant governor] that he can now stall any project or work initiated by the elected government in the Union Territory. As per the Centre’s proposal, the final decision-making power will lie with the L-G and not the elected government,” said Manish Sisodia.
However, despite all the complaints of Sisodia, the Union government understands very well that Aam Aadmi Party leaders are too anarchic to be left with the serious task of the governance of the city as important as Delhi; they will be ready to compromise with the security of the citizens as well as VIPs for mere political gain. Therefore, in order to ensure that the administration of Delhi is not left to anarchist Kejriwal, the union government has decided to further curtail his power.
Very good news .
To curb dacoity by dacoits, it is very important to bring such legislation.