‘Will overturn illegal decisions’

Delhi lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung on Friday said that the Delhi high court verdict must have made things “clear” to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal while asserting that he was in the process of overturning “illegal decisions” taken by the AAP government.

Mr Jung rubbished Mr Kejriwal’s claim that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have tried to stop AAP’s governance initiatives. Why will the Prime Minister do so when he looks after the entire country, the L-G asked.

“The CM has gone on record asking why the value of an electors vote in Delhi will be half when the AAP government has won a stupendous majority. But that is his interpretation. Which hopefully must be to clear to him now. But unfortunately illegal decisions were taken during without my knowledge. Then I wrote to the officials to set things right after the HC verdict. I have received around 250 files till date. Now that the court has drawn the line, they have sent the files. I am working with the hope that things will improve,” Mr Jung said.

The lieutenant-governor was speaking on “Complexities of Governance” at an event organised by former BJP MLA Vijay Jolly. In his address, Mr Jolly lambasted Mr Kejriwal saying that the city was in a mess under the AAP dispensation. The Delhi high court had on August 4 held that the L-G is the administrative head of the National Capital Territory and the AAP government’s contention that he is bound to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers was “without substance”.

Underlining the importance of the Constitution, Mr Jung said that it does not allow any person in position to “cut corners” and the liberty or permission to interpret “as we think is correct”.

Mr Jung said in cases where anyone feels the need for a change, one has to go through the right forum and failing to do so would tantamount to taking an “exceptionally dangerous route” leading to “dictatorships”.