Tension between the Centre and the AAP-led Delhi government is set to escalate as the Union home ministry has returned 14 bills, including the important Janlokpal Bill, on the grounds that proper proc
Tension between the Centre and the AAP-led Delhi government is set to escalate as the Union home ministry has returned 14 bills, including the important Janlokpal Bill, on the grounds that proper procedure for them was not followed before they were passed by the state Assembly and referred to the Centre.
“Since Delhi is not a full state and remains a Union Territory, the bill needs to be approved by the Centre before it can be introduced in the Assembly. Once the Assembly clears the bill, it has to be sent to the lieutenant-governor, who forwards it to the Centre for presidential assent. But all the 14 bills were cleared directly by the Assembly without any consent either from the Centre or the L-G. Since the proper procedure was not followed, these bills have been returned for appropriate correction by the state government,” a senior home ministry official said.
But L-G’s media advisor Simi Malhotra, however, said that the report regarding returning of the 14 bills was incorrect. Repeated attempts to reach out to her for further clarification failed.
The move is likely to trigger a fresh round of war of words between the state and the Centre as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has often accused the Centre of creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of the Delhi government. Prior to returning the 14 bills, the Centre had sent back seven other bills over the last few months related to Value Added Tax (VAT), time-bound delivery of services and a hefty hike in salaries of the legislators.
The anti-corruption Janlokpal Bill was one of the main electoral promises of the Aam Admi Party during the Assembly elections last year as it was aimed at reducing corruption in government functioning. Among other bills reportedly returned by the home ministry included the Minimum Wages (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015, Delhi School (Verification Of Accounts and Refund of Excess Fee) Bill 2015, Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill 2015, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015 and a bill related to working journalists.
The development comes in wake of President Pran-ab Mukherjee having refus-ed his assent to a legislation that sought to protect 21 AAP MLAs, who had been appointed parliamentary secretaries, from disqualification for holding office-of-profit.
As expected, the Centre’s action drew sharp criticism from Mr Kejriwal, who in a series of tweets alleged that the Centre is creating im-pediments in functioning of the state government.
Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said that the CM should apologise to the people of Delhi as he got the bills passed by the House by not following the rules laid down in the Con-stitution. “He has already tabled the VAT Amendm-ent Bill in the House. He should also table other bills in the Assembly.”
On the other hand, Congr-ess leader Haroon Yusuf said, “It appears that Mr Kejriwal is not serious ab-out getting anything done. When we were in government, we followed the Co-nstitution. We would first send bills to the lieutenant-general for approval.”
Mr Yusuf claimed that Mr Kejriwal did not want the Janlokpal Bill, an anti-corruption legislation, to be passed. Reacting to the decision of the Centre, AAP leader Somnath Bharti questioned why the Central government took a year to return the bills.
