Centre rejects charge that it is delaying nod to Delhi govt’s bills

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday rejected the Arvind Kejriwal government’s charge that it is sitting over the bills passed by the Delhi assembly and thus hampering

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday rejected the Arvind Kejriwal government’s charge that it is sitting over the bills passed by the Delhi assembly and thus hampering its work.

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“We have received 11 bills from the Delhi government. Of them, one bill - the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 2015 – concerning the appointment of parliamentary secretaries has been rejected by the President. Rest of the bills are in the different stages of processing. We are not sitting over any bill,” said a home ministry official, requesting anonymity.

The official explained that since unlike the previous governments the Kejriwal government has started introducing bills without prior scrutiny by the home ministry, the process of clearing bills is taking more time.

“Earlier there was no problem with Delhi bills as all legislations were introduced in the assembly after prior scrutiny by the home ministry under the constitutional provisions and rules framed therein. But ever since the Kejriwal government came to power, it did not follow the process which is creating problems,” said the official.

The bill regarding the appointment of parliamentary secretaries was sent along with three other bills - The Delhi Netaji Subhas University of Technology Bill, 2015, The Delhi(Right of Citizento Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill, 2015 and The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (Amendment) Act 2015 .

”These bills were received in December. We sought clarifications on the bills concerning the university and time-bound delivery of services on April 13. But the Delhi government is yet to reply,” said the official.

The official said a bill pertaining to shelter improvement is also likely to be sent back to the Delhi government.

“It’s a bit complicated,” said the official.

The home ministry received seven bills from Delhi government in April this year. Of these, three are education bills -- The Delhi School (Verification of Accounts and Refund of Excess Fee) Bill, 2015, The Delhi School Education( Amendment) Bill ,2015 and The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education( Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015.

“We have sought response of various government departments to ensure that the proposed legislations are not in conflict with any central law. Once the responses are received, the ministry will process the bills further,” said the official.

The other four bills sent for Presidential nod are: Jan Lokpal Bill, Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Bill, 2015, The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions (Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Code of Criminal Procedure (Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015.

In the case of journalists and minimum wages bills, clarifications have been sought from the Delhi government while the Jan Lokpal bill and the CrPC amendment bill are being examined by the various Union ministries.