Delhi govt versus LG battle plays out in Assembly

Birla presided the session in place of speaker Ram Niwas Goel, who was not in the city on Wednesday, HT has learnt

A two-day special session of the Delhi assembly began on Wednesday amid conflict between the state and the Centre, with deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla telling the House that though lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena has raised objections on the session being convened, his reservations are without merit and based on a wrong interpretation of the laws.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj speaks during the session at Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. (HT Photo)

This is the first assembly session since the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) (Amendment) Act, 2023, which puts the control of the city’s administration in the hands of the Centre, was codified into law.

Birla told the House that LG Saxena wrote a letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on August 11, with a copy to the Delhi assembly secretary, stating that the session was called in violation of the rules.

“The LG has raised objections on the convening of the third part of the fourth session. His opinion is that the assembly sessions should be prorogued, and fresh assembly sessions should be convened with his (LG) approval, and there should be a minimum of three sessions in a year. The LG has also stated that the current assembly session has been convened without the recommendation of the Delhi cabinet, which is a violation of rules including the recent GNCTD (Amendment) Act,” Birla said.

However, said the deputy Speaker, the provisions of the GNCTD (Amendment) Act — which say that the opinion of the LG is needed for the summoning, prorogation, and dissolution of the Delhi assembly — are not related to convening special sessions. “It is related to the new convening of the fresh session of the assembly and not a special session. LG has no role in calling the special session of the assembly,” she said.

“Special sessions are called even in Parliament and other state assemblies. The Rules empower the Speaker to convene the House any time after adjourning the assembly sessions sine die. If the Cabinet recommends the prorogation of the session, the next session is called with the approval of the LG...,” she added.

Earlier this year, the LG flagged “grave procedural lapses” in a session convened in April, after Kejriwal got a summons from the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning in connection in the excise policy case.

In his recent letter to Kejriwal, the LG said, “It is, to say the least, very unfortunate that despite bringing it to your notice earlier, age-old parliamentary practices of proroguing the previous session and summoning at least three sessions per year of the Legislative Assembly is not being followed and the statutory procedures and parliamentary practices are being continuously ignored, indeed done away with. Therefore, I would again implore you to look into this matter to ensure that Sessions of the Legislative Assembly are generally conducted in accordance with provisions of Section 6 of the GNCTD Act, 1991 instead of reconvening of the House in parts of a single session, despite any emergent need thereof..”

But Birla said that “under rule 17, the Speaker can convene the House at any time if the session has not been prorogued. “I received a note on August 8 from the minister of law and justice with the approval of the CM to convene the House on August 16. Accordingly, I convened the House. Lok Sabha also has similar rules to call special sessions. The assembly session has been called according to laws and any remarks passed on it are without merit and are completely based on wrong definition of the laws,” she said.

Birla presided the session in place of speaker Ram Niwas Goel, who was not in the city on Wednesday, HT has learnt.

In his letter, the LG also wrote that the reconvening of third part of fourth session (Budget session) without a cabinet decision is not only inconsistent with the statutory provisions envisaged under the Transaction of Business Rules, but also a violation of the spirit of clauses in the NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act. “Therefore, the proposed Third Part of Fourth session being summoned without following the due procedure, should not be convened in this manner,” the LG said.

The deputy speaker, however, said that on several occasions since 1993, assembly sessions have been called to discuss important issues affecting the people of the Capital.

The LG, in his letter, also flagged the lack of legislative businesses to be taken up by the assembly.

To this, Birla said that, as per the rules, “the Speaker has the power to decide the business in consultation with the chief minister. LG has no role in legislative work, and it is also not necessary that legislative work is carried out in every session.”

In the House on Wednesday, leader of Opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri stood up in support of the LG. “I support the letter written by the LG. Show me one state assembly where question hour is not listed in the list of business…The problems of Delhi are not raised in the assembly but matters outside the jurisdiction of the Assembly are raised. In this situation what is the usefulness of the Assembly,” Bidhuri said.

The session began with obituary references to people who have been killed in ethnic clashes in Manipur and communal violence in Haryana, and people who died in Odisha train accident.

Some Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs alleged that Delhi government officers were not releasing funds for development work, and demanded that the responsibilities of the officers should be fixed.

The AAP did not officially comment on the matter nor did it to respond to HT’s queries in this regard.