New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Parliament Thursday that the Centre had the right to make laws for Delhi, as the Lok Sabha took up for discussion a Bill that has curbed the capital’s elected government’s control over its bureaucrats.
“There are provisions in the Constitution that allow the Centre to make laws for Delhi,” Shah said while opening the discussion on the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
On 20 May, the Centre promulgated an ordinance that gave the Lieutenant Governor – who reports to the central government – the final say in the transfer and postings of bureaucrats in the Delhi government, vigilance and other matters.
This controversial ordinance, which became a flashpoint between Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAM) government and the Centre, effectively reversed a Supreme Court ruling on 11 May that gave legislative and executive power over administrative services to the Delhi government in the national capital.
The Centre’s move to curtail Delhi’s powers subsequently brought 26 Opposition parties together against the Narendra Modi government.
In Lok Sabha Thursday, Shah said the ordinance has referred to another Supreme Court order which said Parliament had the right to make laws on any issue related to the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
“In 2015, a party came to power in Delhi (read AAP) whose only motive was to fight, and not serve,” Shah said, adding the Delhi government wanted control of the vigilance department “to hide their corruption like building their bungalows”.
Incidentally, the BJP has charged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of spending Rs 45 crore to renovate his government bungalow amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shah further said in Parliament Thursday that “Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Rajaji (C Rajagopalachari), Rajendra Prasad and B.R. Ambedkar was against the idea of Delhi being given the status of full statehood”.
He told the Opposition not to think only of their alliance, but also of the good of Delhi and the country.
#WATCH | ..Even after they've (the opposition) formed an alliance, Narendra Modi will become PM again with full majority…: Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha as he speaks on Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 pic.twitter.com/MeoLw2yloO
— ANI (@ANI) August 3, 2023
The Bill provides for the setting up of a National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA), a three-member body to be headed by the Delhi chief minister, to decide on transfer and postings of Group-A officers, including civil servants.
According to the ordinance, the body, which will also have the Delhi chief secretary and the principal secretary, home department, as members, will take its decisions by majority vote. However, the Lieutenant Governor’s decision would be final in case of a difference of opinion.
Though the Opposition, particularly the newly-formed 26-party INDIA bloc is united against the Bill, the government is comfortably placed to pass it — even in Rajya Sabha — with the help of traditionally friendly parties like the YSR Congress Party and the Biju Janata Dal.
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