Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought an appointment with Union home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss 14 bills “sent” by lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung to the ministry of home affairs.
Mr Kejriwal informed through social media that L-G Najeeb Jung has sent the bills passed by the Delhi Assembly to the MHA. “Hon’ble L-G has sent 14 Bills of Delhi Govt to MHA. I have sought appointment from Rajnath ji to discuss these 14 Bills (sic),” he tweeted.
This assumes importance in view of the fact that the Assembly had recently passed 15 bills, including the Delhi Janlokpal Bill, Salary Amendment Bill and the Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill. The Lokpal Bill has provisions that are likely to be red-flagged by the Centre as it proposes to bring under the ambit of the ombudsman Central government officials and ministers as well.
The fate of 14 of the 15 contentious bills passed by the Delhi Assembly now rests with the Centre. Except for the Appropriations Bill pertaining to revised Budget estimates, all other bills are now in the Centre’s court. Once the Centre clears these bills, then and only then can they be implemented in the city.
In his observations, the LG had noted that the AAP government had tabled them in the House without seeking his prior approval. A source told this newspaper that prior approval of Raj Niwas was mandatory before tabling these bills in the Assembly as some of these had either financial implications and others were in conflict with Central rules. The law does not give powers to the chief minister, his council of ministers and the state Assembly to directly pass bills which have either financial implications or are in conflict with any act of Parliament. The powers for tabling such bills are reportedly vested with the L-G and the Union government.
The source said the LG is said to have made observations on the bills that these had been tabled in the House without following set procedures. He is said to have observed that the bills had been passed by the Assembly in violation of the Transaction of Business Rules governing the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Section 239 AA of the Indian Constitution. On some of the bills, the L-G is said to have observed that these had been tabled in the House without getting them properly vetted by the law, finance and other concerned departments.
The L-G is also said to have made critical remarks about the AAP government’s flagship anti-corruption watchdog, Janlokpal Bill, 2015, on which MLAs had debated for four hours and 16 minutes before it was passed on December 4. Among other bills referred to the Centre are the Members of Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory Of Delhi (Salaries, Allowances, Pension etc.) (Amendment) Bill, the Ministers of National Capital Territory Of Delhi (Salaries And Allowances) (Amendment) Bill amonh others.
