Delhi govt will challenge Centre’s ordinance in SC, says AAP
The Centre issued an ordinance restoring to itself the power over ‘services’ in the National Capital Territory on Friday evening, a week after the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government has control over bureaucrats assigned to departments under its purview
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday termed the Centre’s ordinance restoring to itself the power over “services” in the National Capital Territory (NCR) as unconstitutional, and said the Delhi government will challenge it in the Supreme Court.
The Centre had issued the ordinance on Friday evening, a week after the top court ruled that the Delhi government has control over bureaucrats assigned to departments under its purview.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Delhi education minister Atishi said the ordinance has been brought to kill democracy and added that it will be ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the Delhi government will challenge the ordinance in the Supreme Court.
“The central government brought an ordinance late last night to kill democracy and the Constitution... (They brought it) in the dark of night at 11pm after the Supreme Court went on summer vacation. Even they (Centre) know that the ordinance is unconstitutional, and the SC will strike it down,” said Atishi.
“The ordinance says that regardless of the people electing Kejriwal, the central government not Kejriwal will run Delhi. The central government does not have the power to bring such an ordinance because the SC constitution bench in paragraph 160 of its judgment has said --- the involvement of the Union of India in the administration of NCT of Delhi is limited by constitutional provisions and any further expansion would be contrary to the constitutional scheme of governance. It means that when the SC was writing this judgment, it had a doubt that the central government may try to illegally curtail the powers of the Delhi government, that is why the SC closed this route,” she said.
In its ordinance, a move perceived as nullifying the constitution bench judgment on May 11, the Centre introduced a whole new chapter in the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act, Part IVA, to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) and a Public Service Commission for transfers and postings of the officers serving in the affairs of the Delhi government. Delhi, so far, did not have a service commission of its own. The ordinance now envisages a separate cadre for Delhi, to be drawn from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB).
The ordinance also strengthened the position of the lieutenant governor (LG), making LG the final authority who can act in their “sole discretion” in deciding the matters relating to transfer and posting of bureaucrats.
Atishi claimed that the central government waited for the six weeks of summer vacation of the Supreme Court to bring the ordinance. “They could have brought this ordinance before SC’s vacation, but they waited for the SC vacation to begin so that for the six weeks they can stop the work of the Delhi government with the help of this unconstitutional ordinance,” she said.
“The ordinance unconstitutionally snatches away the powers over transfer posting given to the elected government of Delhi by the constitution bench of the Supreme Court. In 2015 as well the central government had snatched away the power to control the bureaucrats from the AAP government which was given a huge mandate by the people. After eight years of legal battle, the SC constitution bench stated that the elected government of Delhi has the power over services as per the federal structure of the Constitution; principles of democracy to implement the will of the people; and the officers are answerable to the elected government otherwise the government cannot implement the will of the people,” said Atishi.
“The ordinance was brought because the Centre could not tolerate seeing Arvind Kejriwal getting power from Supreme Court to work at 10x speed. (Prime Minister) Modi started getting nightmares featuring Kejriwal that Kejriwal did more work in eight years without power than any other government could do in the last 20 years,” she said.
“PM Narendra Modi thought that with the new power (for transfer posting), Kejriwal will work at 10x speed. So Modiji thought a way out to stop Kejriwal’s work even though the move was unconstitutional and undemocratic,” Atishi said.
Atishi said that the ordinance has said that the Delhi Assembly does not have the power to make legislation on service matters, and claimed that it was unconstitutional. “The ordinance says that the NCCSA will be chaired by CM and will have chief secretary and home secretary of Delhi as members. The chief secretary and home secretary will not be appointed by the Delhi government but by the central government. CM as the chairman of NCCSA will be in minority and would not be able to take decisions. The ordinance says that the authority will take decisions only with the majority. So, all the decisions taken in the authority will be according to the wishes of the two bureaucrats appointed by the central government. If the authority’s decision is not liked by the Centre, then the LG will have the power to overturn the decision. It means that the power to control and transfer posting of officers will not be under the elected government but with the Centre,” she added.
“Delhi is such a small territory. The government of Delhi already has limited powers because it does not control land, police and public order. But Modi ji tries to curtail even the limited powers of the Delhi government through unconstitutional and illegal means which means that he is afraid of Kejriwal. Modi ji knows that if Kejriwal is given power even for six months, he will show the power of an honest government,” said Atishi.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Harish Khurana slammed the Delhi government over its claims. “We all should understand why this ordinance was brought. Arvind Kejriwal does corruption and if an officer stops him, the officer will be beaten up. The lock of an officer’s room was broken at 2am and documents were photocopied to destroy evidence. Officers were intimidated and threatened that their career would be destroyed. It was bringing embarrassment to the national capital. It is a pity that we have got a chief minister (Kejriwal) who is bent on defaming and embarrassing the national capital,” said Khurana.