Centre brings law in house to make LG the sole government in Delhi: Redressal to a massive poll loss

Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been approved by the Parliament on Wednesday. This is the bill that will grant preeminence to the Lieutenant Governor over the elected government. It seeks to clarify that “government” in Delhi means “Lieutenant Governor”. LG’s opinion will be needed before the execution of any bill passed by the Delhi Government.

Now, once a bill is passed by the legislative assembly, the LG will be presented with it and shall decide whether to give assent to the bill, withhold assent, or reserve the bill for the consideration of the president. The legislative assembly will no longer be able to make rules that enable themselves, nor committees to give appraisals on daily administrations of Delhi, nor inquire on said administrations.

"The said bill will promote harmonious relations between the legislature and the executive, and further define the responsibilities of the elected government and the L-G, in line with the constitutional scheme of governance of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, as interpreted by the Supreme Court," stated the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, to give effect to the interpretation made by the Supreme Court

The bill witnessed multiple interruptions in the House by opposition parties (Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, DMK, etc) which claimed that the legislation is “unconstitutional”, and caused repeated adjournments with their uproar. The AAP alleges that the bill will result in the Delhi government becoming "administratively impotent" and demanded that the bill be examined by a Select Committee.

G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, opposed the allegations that the bill was brought to effect in an attempt to usurp the powers of the elected government and asserted that it cleared prior legislative ambiguities. He declared that the new revisions bring clarity and transparency to NCT Delhi.

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