Hours after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday called for a referendum on grant of full statehood to the national Capital. Echoing similar view, Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC) vice-chairman Ashish Khetan said “after UK’s referendum on EU exit, it’s time to have a referendum on full statehood for Delhi.”
Citing the ‘Brexit’ referendum, Kejriwal said the national Capital will soon have a referendum on full statehood issue. last month, the AAP Government had released a draft Bill on the issue and had invited suggestions from the public till June 30.
“After UK referendum, Delhi will soon have a referendum on full statehood,” the Chief Minister tweeted. If Delhi gets full statehood, police, land, municipal corporations and bureaucracy will come under the State Government. Senior AAP leader Ashish Khetan said the will of the people is supreme in democracy and it’s time to have a referendum on full statehood of Delhi.
“After the UK referendum on EU exit, it’s time to have a referendum on full statehood of Delhi. In a democracy the will of the ppl is supreme,” he tweeted. The United Kingdom has voted to quit the European Union in a referendum which is being termed as ‘Brexit’.
According to sources, the Kejriwal Government has been demanding full control over the national Capital while the Centre is reluctant to grant full Statehood.
In July last year, the Kejriwal Government had asked its various Departments to prepare a “draft law and create machinery for” holding referendum on the subject of statehood for Delhi.
The Chief Minister had asked the Urban Development Department to come with a feasibility report and specify a timeline. The department was asked to give various options available to the Government for conducting such a referendum.
While releasing the draft Bill, Kejriwal, last month, had asked the BJP and the Congress to “rise above differences”. Kejriwal had said that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to garner support for the draft Bill, which keeps the high-profile NDMC area out of its jurisdiction.
Delhi is a quasi-State with the lieutenant-Governor (l-G) as its head. The l-G also has control over law and order and land in the National Capital Territory (NCT). The status of Delhi is more than that of a Union Territory and less than a State. But constitutional experts say the idea of achieving full Statehood for Delhi through referendum was not only an impractical proposition but unconstitutional as well.
The experts argued that as a democratic nation, India holds election every five years that serves as referendum of the people of this country. In 1911, when India’s Capital was shifted from Kolkata to Delhi, the British Government ensured not to bring Delhi under a State, but it was given the status of Capital of British India.
The father of the Indian Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, who as Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, after studying the federal structure of the Governments in the US, Australia and Canada, had noted that the national Capital can’t be under a State or a local Government. Even the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, didn’t merge Delhi with any other State and left it as the national Capital.
In 1987, ‘Sarkaria Committee’ (later called Balakrishnan Committee) was appointed to look into the issues connected with the administration of Delhi and the report was submitted in 1989. In accordance with the recommendations of the Committee, Parliament passed ‘The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991’, besides other legislations. Granting full statehood to Delhi was ruled out.