Soon after the High Court ruling came stating that the Lieutenant- Governor is the administrative head of Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party government declared that they will challenge the order in the Supreme Court.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the HC order is not about ‘Kejriwal vs Jung’ but “we the people vs selected people.”
“Only the SC can rightly define the definition of a government,” he said.
Questioning the definition of the government as defined by the HC on Thursday and the amendment in the Constitution to have a legislative Assembly, he said “we do not agree with the High Court order. If the city was to be run by the L-G then why do we have a legislative assembly and elections?”
Justifying the Delhi government’s stand, Mr Sisodia said the HC states that Delhi is a Union Territory but it is a UT with a legislature. “Several Acts of Parliament relating to Delhi have defined both the Lieutenant-Governor and the government of NCT as different entities. So, if Constitution had considered Delhi as a mere UT, the city would have functioned like Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Andamans. But it is not so,” he reasoned.
‘Targeted’
Claiming that the AAP government was being targeted by the Centre for trying to weed out corruption from Delhi, Mr Sisodia said when they caught corrupt police officials, exposed corruption involving transfer and posting of government officials, all their decisions were stalled.
Past incidents
Recalling the past incidents, where the Delhi government had several run-ins with the L-G and the Centre over control of the Anti-Corruption Branch, land and transfer/posting of officials, Mr Sisodia said that the Centre could not digest the AAP government’s “efficiency.” “The ACB was under the Delhi government since 1993 but the day a police official was caught taking a bribe, the Centre took it over,” he rued.
He said they cannot probe any scam or appoint directors on the boards of discoms in which Delhi government has 49% equity even though the Comptroller and Auditor General in its report highlighted massive corruption. “For 20 years, there was no crisis in Delhi. When the AAP came to power, suddenly it’s a mess,” he said.
While Mr Sisodia criticized the HC order, sources in the Delhi government said they were expecting such a verdict and were prepared.
“Not shocking”
“The judgment is not shocking. We were preparing for our next step for some weeks, which is going to the Supreme Court, and have already roped in constitutional experts to represent us in the SC,” said a source.
A close aide of the Deputy Chief Minister said the government would keep functioning the way it is, not sending all files to L-G or seeking his approval.
