While the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday rejected the Delhi Cabinet’s decision to reject the police’s proposal to set up panels of public prosecutors in farmers’ case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the L-G’s interference in everyday work is an insult to the people of Delhi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should respect democracy.
“Delhi people formed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with a historic majority and defeated the BJP. Let BJP run the country and let ‘AAP’ run Delhi,” Kejriwal added.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Central Government’s anti-farmers conspiracy would be exposed in Court. “Fearing that Central Government’s anti-farmer conspiracy would be exposed in Court, LG rejected the panel of lawyers decided by the Delhi Cabinet,” Sisodia said, “Overturning cabinet’s decisions like this is an insult to the people of Delhi, BJP should respect democracy.”
“It was decided in the Delhi Cabinet on July 19 that lawyers would be appointed by the Delhi Government with respect to the farmer agitation cases going on in the Court. However, the Lieutenant Governor reversed this decision of the Delhi Government on Saturday and sent the file to the President.”
“As per the Constitution, the Chief Minister of the elected government of Delhi has been given the right to appoint lawyers. Overturning the decision of the Delhi Cabinet by the Lieutenant Governor is entirely against the Constitution. If the appointment of lawyers is also to be done by the Lieutenant Governor, what will happen to the rights of the Government elected by the people as per the constitution?”
“The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court, including 5 senior judges, had clearly stated in its order that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has only two powers.
Either the LG can agree with the decision of the elected Government and act accordingly, and if the LG disagrees, then he may send his disagreement to the President. The Supreme Court had also said in its order that the Lieutenant Governor has been given the power to refer a matter to the President only in extraordinary circumstances and not in every case.”
Sisodia alleged that the Centre is violating the constitutional rights of the elected Delhi Government. “Centre needs to read the constitution and reflect that if the government elected by the people is not being allowed to function, then what is the need to hold elections, and what is the need for the constitution? This shows the unconstitutional and undemocratic attitude of the BJP-led Central Government,” he added.
Questioning the Central Government, the Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia asked, “What is the intent behind rejecting the panel of lawyers decided by the Delhi Government?
The Central government is afraid that the panel of lawyers appointed by the CM will expose the conspiracy led by the Central government against the farmers in Court.” While advising the Centre, Sisodia said that the Central Government should stop interfering in the matters of farmers and the Delhi Government.