Sseeking lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung’s prior approval for tabling ‘returned’ Bills in the Delhi Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has directed law and Finance Departments to resubmit such proposals to the Raj Niwas for prior approval in accordance with the decision of the Delhi Cabinet.
For the early passage of legislations, Sisodia has also directed Head of Departments (HoDs), Principal Secretaries and Secretaries to follow up with the Centre the status of legislations passed by the Assembly.
Recently, the Centre had returned back two more Bills to the Delhi Government.
The proposed Bill is related to the Delhi (Right to Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill and Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology which were passed by the Delhi Assembly last year.
The Bill on the time bound delivery of services was passed by the Assembly in June last year and that of the NSIT was passed five months later.
In all, the Assembly had passed 17 Bills without seeking prior approval of the lieutenant-Governor. After getting the Bills passed, the Government had sent the Bills to the lieutenant-Governor, who in turn had forwarded them to President Pranab Mukherjee with his comments highlighting procedural lapses and lack of proper vetting from law. After the President’s notings, Raj Niwas has returned nine Bills on the ground that they had been passed without following the set legislative procedures.
“Seventeen Bills were passed by the legislative Assembly during the previous year. The respective HoDs should follow up the Government of India for early passage of the legislative proposals. The Deputy Chief Minister requested law and Finance Departments to resubmit their legislative proposals to the l-G for prior approval as decided by the Council of Ministers,” the minutes of the meeting said.
Officials said the lieutenant-Governor has so far returned nine Bills, the remaining ones are reportedly pending President’s consideration. Among the Bills returned back to the AAP Government are the ones pertaining to the salaries of the legislators and the Amendment in the Value Added Tax Bill that provides policing powers to VAT inspector. Among the key Bills with Raj Niwas are Delhi Janlokpal Bill, one related to certain amendments in the CrPC and Amendments related to certain bills concerning the Education sector.
The Raj Niwas has reportedly returned the NSIT Bill 2015 on the ground that the definition of the Delhi Government had been changed in it. In this particular Bill, the AAP Government had mentioned that the Government means the Delhi Government while in other Bills it had stated that the Government meant the lieutenant-Governor.
It may be noted that the Delhi Institute of Technology whose name was changed to Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology on February 13, 1997. The ultimate goal was to make it a university.
As far as the Delhi (Right Of Citizen To Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill is concerned, its main aim is to make Government officials liable to automatic deductions from their salaries in case of delayed delivery of services to average Delhiites. Among other provisions, the Bill prioritises each Government Department to put out a “comprehensive citizens charter” within 30 days of its notification, the adoption of the Delhi Government’s e-district portal to ensure the transparent and time-bound delivery of citizen-related services within the prescribed time limit and affixing responsibility for delayed discharge of services with HOD’s.