Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought an appointment with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss 14 Bills “sent” by lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung to the MHA with his observations.
Following The Pioneer report on Wednesday, Kejriwal tweeted, “Hon’ble lG has sent 14 Bills of Delhi Govt to MHA. I have sought appointment from Rajnath ji to discuss these14 Bills (sic).” This assumes importance in view of the fact that the Delhi Assembly had passed 15 Bills, including the Delhi Jan lokpal Bill, Salary Amendment Bill, CrPC amendement Bill and the Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill. The Delhi Jan lokpal Bill has provision that is likely to be red-flagged by the Centre as it proposes to bring under the ambit of the ombudsman Central Government officials and Ministers as well.
The fate of 14 of the 15 contentious Bills passed by the Delhi Assembly now rests with the Centre. Except for the Appropriation Bill pertaining to revised budget estimates, all other Bills are now in the Centre’s court.
Source said prior approval of Raj Niwas was mandatory before tabling these Bills in the Assembly as some of these had either financial implications and others were in conflict with the Central rules.
According to sources, the l-G is said to have made observations on the Bills that had been passed by the Assembly in violation of the Transaction of Business Rules governing the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Section 239 AA of the Indian Constitution. On some of the Bills, the l-G is said to have observed that these had been tabled in the House without getting them properly vetted from the law, finance and other concerned departments.
Also, the l-G is said to have made critical remarks on the AAP Government’s flagship anti-corruption watchdog, Janlokpal Bill, 2015, on which MlAs had debated for 4 hours and 16 minutes before it was passed on December 4.