Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is once again in the news for wrong reason. A large section of media depicts Kejriwal as a man of controversy and confrontations. Bureaucrats willingness to oblige the LG in this turf war makes it more strong. However, is Kejriwal really at the wrong side in this battle and is the battle for supremacy, at all? Let us dig a bit more into how the tussle began.
It is needless to say that the real fight is between the Modi government and AAP. LG being the representative of the Central govt, his role is nothing beyond being on the forefront. So the question arises should one person, appointed by a government (read Centre), be allowed to dictate a popular elected government? Forget the record mandate AAP received three months ago.
Delhi is administered under three rule books — the Constitution, the GNCTD Act and the TBR ( Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rul es, 1993).
What TBR says about executive functions of the LG: “The Lieutenant Governor shall in respect of matters connected with ‘public order’, ‘police’ and ‘land’ exercise his executive functions to the extent delegated to him by the President in consultation with the Chief Minister, if it is so provided under any order issued by the President under article 239 of the Constitution.”
Kejriwal first asked the bureaucrats to invovle his office in the decision making process on ‘public order’, ‘police’ and ‘land’ as he felt he needed to be consulted in the process. What is wrong in that? If a CM wants to be consulted in matters concerning 1.5 crore people who voted him to power with unprecedented support, is it unconstitutional? The LG promptly negated the order and asked the bureaucrats to not involve the CM office. Isn’t it in violation of the spirit of democracy?
Like the LG is the final authority on those three areas, the Delhi Council of Ministers enjoys authority to take final decisions on rest of matters. The AAP government asked the secretariat not to send files other than the ‘three’ areas to the LG’s office before final decision is taken by the Council of Ministers, followed by an instruction from LG which overturned the move. The LG made clear that the AAP govt order is unconstitutional and declared it void, asking officers to send him files as was happening.
Pudduchery govt writes letter to LG of state saying LG can't order directly to officers of state. It has to be via CM pic.twitter.com/CF1ZI2U2yJ
— Ashutosh Mishra (@ashu3page) May 18, 2015
So what prompted the Modi government to take such a bold stand and ask the LG to take every measure that unsettles the Kejriwal government? Reports on social media and a section of the Press suggest the first round of investigation by the AAP-appointed ACB into the alleged power irregularities by service providers is over. Even the audit is said to have found large amount of irregularities at the preliminary investigations. Is it an attempt to protect the high and mighty involved with the power distributors? Only time will say.
