In a first, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Wednesday presented an “outcome report” on the office of Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal in the Delhi Assembly, which concluded that Raj Niwas had “delayed” and “derailed” many of its proposals.
The report, presented by Finance Minister Manish Sisodia, during the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly said that the office of the L-G had not been subject to any kind of scrutiny, like elected representatives and officers were.
“The questions asked of the elected government must extend to the Hon’ble LG as well (sic),” the report said.
Reading the report, Mr. Sisodia said the L-G had been returning files pertaining to transferred subjects, which the State government and not the L-G controls, to different Delhi government departments or forwarding them to Central ministries. Referring to Article 239 AA of the Constitution, the report said the L-G could refer a matter to the President if there was a “substantive difference of opinion” with the Council of Ministers.
By not sending the matter to the President and instead sending it back to the State government or the Centre, the L-G had been delaying proposals, the report said.
For example, after the L-G asked for a clarification in the matter of giving the midday meal contract to the Akshay Patra Foundation, it took the Education Department almost four months to table the proposal before the Cabinet again, the report said.
Vacant posts
“There appears to be a nice symphony between the Hon’ble LG and the bureaucracy, over whom he enjoys complete control to the exclusion of the elected government [sic],” the report said.
In addition, the report said there were “thousands of positions” in the government that were vacant and since services were under the control of the L-G, it was his responsibility to fill these. For instance, there are 66,128 posts for teachers, but only 34,211 posts are filled.
“If the departments are so severely understaffed in the Hon’ble LG’s watch, how can one expect the work directed by the government to be completed?,” the report said.
