scorecardresearch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeIndiaGovernanceGNCTD Act will paralyse governance in Delhi, say 76 former civil servants

GNCTD Act will paralyse governance in Delhi, say 76 former civil servants

In a joint statement Friday, a group of 76 former civil servants also said that the recently enacted Bill has grave repercussions on how federal governance is carried out in India.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

New Delhi: The provisions of the recently enacted GNCTD (Amendment) Act will not only paralyse governance in Delhi but also have grave repercussions on how federal governance is carried out in the country, a group of 76 former civil servants said in a joint statement on Friday.

This is an unfortunate move and bad in law, said the signatories to the letter including former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, former secretary of Planing Commission N C Saxena, former IAS officer Aruna Roy, and ex-secretary of Department of Agriculture Siraj Hussain.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, accords primacy to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) over the elected government. According to the legislation, the “government” in Delhi means the “Lieutenant Governor”.

“Section 44 of the Act now states that before taking any executive action, the elected government shall have to take prior permission of the Lieutenant Governor, even in matters in which the Assembly has the right to make laws. This is in direct contravention of the Supreme Court’s judgement…,” the letter said.

By curtailing the powers of the Delhi Assembly and subordinating the executive power of the elected government to the Lieutenant Governor, Parliament has negated the provisions of Article 239 AA of the Constitution without amending the Constitution, but merely through amendments to the GNCTD Act, it said.

“This is an unfortunate move and bad in law. It deprives Delhi’s citizens of the right to govern themselves in matters such as health, education, water, power, electric supply and roads. There is no justification to concentrate all powers of governance in the Union Government merely because Delhi is the country’s capital,” the letter stated.

This move will not only paralyse governance in Delhi, much to the detriment of public interest but also have grave repercussions on how federal governance is carried out in India, it said.

“In India’s democracy, we have adopted a republican structure and the Westminster model, in which the Governor is a titular head, acting on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers,” the letter said.

This constitutionally mandated structure has been repeatedly upheld and endorsed by the honourable Supreme Court, it said.

“That the legislature is supreme within its functional powers is a cardinal federal principle. Elected representatives link the will of the people with that of the Government, regardless of whether citizens live in a state or a Union Territory,” it added.

The demand for full statehood for Delhi has been consistently championed by all political parties, even though it is a National Capital Territory that may necessitate differential treatment, the letter said.

That led to the insertion of Article 239 AA into the Constitution of India, establishing an elected legislature for Delhi. The opening lines of Article 239 AA state that “the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly”, it said.

Interpreting the scope of this provision, the honourable Supreme Court ruled that “the Lieutenant Governor has not been entrusted with any independent decision-making power. He has to either act on the ‘aid and advice’ of the Council of Ministers or he is bound to implement the decision taken by the President on a reference being made by him (Para 277),” it further said.

However, the recently enacted GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021 strikes at the root of these principles and renders null the democratic right of the citizens of Delhi, said the letter, written by the former civil servants under the aegis of Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG).

The CCG, according to the letter, has “no affiliation with any political party but is committed to the values and principles enshrined in the Constitution of India”.

The former civil servants further said, “We are deeply concerned that Parliament should pass a law which appears to make a mockery of constitutional provisions and their interpretation by the Supreme Court. We recognise that the same strategy of ramming through changes in law, with no consultation with the legislature or discussion with other political parties, was gone through when Article 370 was abrogated with respect to Jammu and Kashmir.”

“We fear that a pattern is being established by which similar strategies could be adopted to destroy the federal principles on the basis of which India’s governance has been structured. The dangers of unilateral decision making to establish a culture of unitary politics will put federal democracy in danger. This would violate the basic structure of the Constitution,” they said.

“We sincerely hope that the honourable Supreme Court, taking note of the fact that this law violates their own order, will declare it unconstitutional and restore the status quo ante,” they said.

President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill on March 28.

The Centre has maintained that the bill is in line with the Supreme Court’s July 2018 ruling on the ambit of powers of the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi government after a series of run-ins between the two.

Union Minister G Kishan Reddy had said the amendments would lead to transparency and clarity in governance in the NCT of Delhi and enhance public accountability.


Also read: From ‘Trishanku’ to a puppet – How Modi govt’s GNCTD Bill undermines Delhi govt


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

6 COMMENTS

  1. In the past Indian Governments (including those part of FORMER EXECUTIVE) have taken some decisions in haste. Formation of the State of Delhi is one taken without much foresight. With the Federal Government, Legislature, Executive and Judiciary located in New Delhi will definitely create friction between the Federal and Delhi State Governments (a no-brainer) – Probably, in the past, the right advice was not given at the right time.

    To put matters in perspective, following is an extract from Wikipedia taken verbatim on how Washington DC, the US Capital City is Governed.

    Quote begins “ The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of U.S. Congress; the district is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River near the country’s East Coast. The City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the national capital. In 1801, the land, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia (including the settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria), officially became recognized as the federal district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the district.

    The three branches of the U.S. federal government are centered in the district: Congress (legislative), the president (executive), and the Supreme Court (judicial).

    Article One, Section Eight of the United States Constitution grants the United States Congress “exclusive jurisdiction” over the city. The district did not have an elected local government until the passage of the 1973 Home Rule Act. The Act devolved certain Congressional powers to an elected mayor and the thirteen-member Council of the District of Columbia. However, Congress retains the right to review and overturn laws created by the council and intervene in local affairs.” Quote ends.

    Tail piece: If the present state of affairs continues, the problem will always remain, when the Governments at the Centre and the State of Delhi are with different political dispositions and each tries to paly a one-up-manship game.

    • Reply to CoL Viswanahan :-

      Whashington DC has always been a conflict in American politics sir. Recently, DC statehood gained popularity because people in the District of Columbia are having “taxation without representation”, meaning they don’t have house or senate seats unlike us. DC is not a state only because DC is highly democratic, thus house and senate seats get increased and under the belt of the leftist party. Sir, DC is very much worse compared to Delhi, it is used as a “puppet”, the union Budget always undervalues DC because it has no representation.

      Even if considering we have MP seats in Delhi, it is clearly not enough for the proper representation of The people of Delhi. This will create a negative influence in the minds of Delhiites, as they make higher amount of money than the national average, higher educated and more opportunistic. It will surely make him lose confidence in the vote.

  2. A lot of those complaining continue to live in Delhi post retirement as power brokers or sub-brokers. If they are not happy with the changes which have been brought about by the CM’s deeds over the past years, they can move out to UP or Haryana where the legislature is supreme within its functional powers as per the cardinal federal principle.
    The retirees are the real land grabbers in Delhi, and making use of their clout under the successive corrupt administrations they have created a jamaat of power brokers, which continued to thrive. Post retirements they continue to have access to best of the, schools , colleges, hospitals, clubs and high end living areas with fancy housing all at the taxpayers accounts.
    If Delhi can be cleared of these parasites it will be a much better place.

  3. What a sad thing that the usual 101 retired babus who made up the Steal Frame of India have not been able to come together to condemn Modi. Shame Shame on the retired stealing babus. Please get your act together. India looks up to you. You were the steal frame of India.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular