Home minister Amit Shah leads government charge as Lok Sabha passes Delhi bill

The new bill will replace an ordinance promulgated on May 19, giving the Union government control of the national capital’s bureaucratic set-up

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to give the Union government control of Delhi’s bureaucracy after a five-hour debate during which Union home minister Amit Shah accused constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) of not being interested in discussing the Manipur violence, not participating in the passage of other key bills, and showing up in force to oppose the Delhi legislation out of fear that one of their partners, the Aam Aadmi Party, would otherwise exit the fledgling grouping.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI Photo/Sansad TV)

The National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 -- which aims to replace an ordinance issued in May that effectively overrode a Supreme Court judgment -- was passed by a voice vote after a walkout by INDIA. It will now be taken by the Rajya Sabha, where the Opposition is better placed to put up a fight but where the government has enough support to push the key bill through.

“I appeal to the Opposition: think about Delhi. Don’t think about the alliance.The alliance will not be helpful. Even after you form alliance, Narendra Modi will again form the government (in 2024) with a full majority,” Shah said in the Lok Sabha to applause and the thumping of desks by the treasury benches.

Shah spoke about Delhi’s unique status, a Union territory with a legislature but also the national capital; the history of elected governments in the state (from 1993 onwards); Article 249 of the Constitution; and the fact that even the May 11 verdict of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court -- which had a different opinion on “services” in the UT -- gave Parliament the right to enact a law on the subject (which is what it was trying to do through the bill).

During his 10-minute speech and 40-minute reply, Shah cited history and the Constitution, and was scathing on Delhi’s AAP government.

He said that after the Supreme Court said it was in charge of services, the first department the UT’s government targeted was vigilance. He claimed this was because vigilance was dealing with the liquor excise case in which the state’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has been jailed; the allegations around the expenditure on Kejriwal’s official bungalow; and the use of around ₹90 crore of government money to promote party activities.

“The problem is not getting right to do transfer postings, but getting control of the vigilance department to hide their corruption like building their bungalows,” Shah added.

He said the Delhi assembly rarely met, adding that it met only five times last year -- including twice for the budget -- and two times this year.

Shah also cautioned the Opposition and particularly the Congress against supporting Delhi governments “scams and corruption” for the sake of alliance and quipped, “ after this bill is enacted, anyway, they (AAP) won’t remain in the alliance with you.”

Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday tweeted: “They also know what they are doing is wrong. This bill is a bill to enslave the people of Delhi. This is a bill that makes them helpless... INDIA will never let this happen”.

As the Lok Sabha passed the bill, Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku came to the well of the House, tore some papers and threw them in the direction of Speaker Om Birla. After the bill was passed, Birla objected to Rinku’s conduct and asked parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi to move a resolution for the AAP member’s suspension for the rest of the monsoon session. The motion was adopted by a voice vote.

The new bill will replace an ordinance promulgated on May 19, and if passed, give the Union government control of the national capital’s bureaucratic set-up.

Shah underlined that before the AAP came to power in 2015, there was no fight between the Centre and the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi over the system put in place since 1993.

“The Congress and the BJP have had governments in Delhi. Sometimes, we were in power in Delhi and the Congress was in Centre sometimes in was the other way round. There was no fight and our intention was to serve the people. No one tried to snatch more power,” Shah told the Lok Sabha, “In 2015, the situation changed and a party (AAP) formed government. I have no hesitation to stay that the party’s only intention is to quarrel (with the Centre) and not to serve the people.”

The spat between the elected government of Delhi and the lieutenant governor, who reports to the Union home ministry, over control of the bureaucracy began in 2015 and reached the Supreme Court the next year. In 2018, the top court said that land, police and public order were under the Centre and the rest of the departments under the elected Delhi government. But the tussle continued, and in May this year, the top court affirmed its earlier verdict. Eight days later, the Union government brought the 2023 Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Ordinance that effectively overrode the Supreme Court’s verdict and gave powers over the bureaucracy to the Centre and the LG. Challenges to the ordinance are pending before the top court, which has sent them to a Constitution Bench.

Speaking against the bill, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, cited the Supreme Court judgement. “The ministers bear responsibility before the legislature for every action undertaken by public officials in their respective departments. The court has observed a paramount feature of the federal constitution is this distribution of powers in such a way that the ministers exercise their exclusive power over administration.”

“How can you say that the minister is responsible for an official who in fact can supersede him on the provisions on this bill?” Tharoor argued.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCO) leader Supriya Sule opposed the bill and said, the bill will enable “the selected superseding the elected.”

Biju Janata Dal’s floor leader Pinaki Mishra supported the bill and rebutted the AAP’s allegation of betrayal by asking, “When did we become friends that now were getting separated?” Defending the party’s position, Mishra said this bill was specific to Delhi and there is no scope to bring such laws in Odisha or West Bengal or other states.

Responding to a point raised in the debate, Shah clarified that there was no question of a similar bill being passed regarding any other state because the Constitution was clear on the power of states. In this case, the bill was required, he added, simply because Delhi is not a state.

YSRCP MP PV Midhun Reddy too supported the bill, saying this is a unique bill, and expressed hope that it is not replicated for other states.