In a move that could possibly trigger yet another row between the Delhi government and Raj Niwas, Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has, in a message to the Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, asked for “constitutional compliance” with the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021.
Responding to the L-G’s message, the Speaker’s office stated that the amendment to the GNCTD Act had been challenged by the Delhi government in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it violates Article 239AA, which deals with the lawmaking power of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Saxena’s communique to the Speaker comes in the wake of a statement made by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this month — about the BJP planning to “do away” with the Delhi Legislative Assembly and convert the city into a full-fledged Union Territory.
Sources said the L-G asked Mr. Goel why the Assembly had not amended its functioning after 14 months of the implementation of the Act in April 2021. They said that the L-G had conveyed to Mr. Goel that not doing so amounted to “contemptuous disregard” of the Constitution.
Delhi Assembly sources said the Speaker is examining the matter and is likely to respond to Mr. Saxena’s message “in line with the Constitution and its norms.”
The Act
The GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021, came into effect in April 2021 after four sections of the GNCTD Act, 1991, were amended.
The most prominent among these amendments was the clarification of the expression “Government” referred to in any law to be made by the Legislative Assembly to mean “the Lieutenant-Governor”, thus establishing the primacy of the L-G over the elected government.
Another amendment made to the earlier Act ensures that the L-G is “necessarily granted an opportunity” to exercise powers entrusted with him under proviso to Clause (4) of Article 239AA of the Constitution. This particular clause provides for a Council of Ministers headed by a Chief Minister to “aid and advise the Lieutenant-Governor” in the exercise of his functions for matters in which the Legislative Assembly has the power to make laws.
‘Unreasonable inaction’
Elaborating upon the communique sent by the L-G to the Delhi Assembly Speaker, a source said, “Constrained by this unreasonable and unexplained inaction by the Delhi Legislative Assembly in amending its ‘Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business, 1997’, mandated by the Act after more than a year, the L-G has sent a message to the Speaker, impressing upon him to do so.”
“Necessary amendments in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi, 1997, or any other existing rule on the subject are immediately required to be made to make them in consonance with the provisions of the Amended Act,” the L-G was quoted as having stated in his message.
Sources close to the Speaker said that Mr. Goel had earlier told the L-G that the new GNCTD Act “has made the committee system of the Assembly non-functional. The amendment prohibits the Assembly and its committees from making enquiries into administrative decisions. Committees of the Legislature look into administrative decisions and ask the government to fix responsibility of individual officers if found guilty by the committees.”
“This is the legitimate, constitutional function of committees of a Legislature. The Legislature enforces accountability of the Executive through these committees. Under Article 239AA the Executive is accountable to the Assembly which ensures it through its systems,” the Speaker in his response added.
Legal challenge
Earlier this month, the Delhi government had requested the Supreme Court to urgently hear and pronounce an authoritative judgment on control over the issue of “Services”, which effectively means control over the bureaucrats in the Capital. The case was referred to a Constitution Bench in May.
