Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday dubbed the removal of the Delhi Government-appointed members from discom boards by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena as "unconstitutional and illegal". The LG has started a new trend of reversing decisions taken by the elected Government of Delhi, Sisodia, who holds the Power Department said at a Press conference.
Further, on the allegations of “Rs 8,000 crore loss to the government exchequer”, Sisodia said, “How can a scam happen here? The Centre and the LG come up with a new allegation every day either against me or any other minister.
They send out the CBI and ED after everyone in the government without any valid case. If they have any doubts in this case, then they must get an investigation done. But they do not have the power to overturn the decision of the government after four years.” "A new trend has been started by the LG as he reversed the Delhi Cabinet's four-year-old decision and removed the members appointed to the boards of the discoms. This way, he could now upturn the government's decisions taken even four-10 years back," Sisodia said.
The deputy chief minister, who also holds the charge of the Delhi power department, said Saxena's decision was "unconstitutional, illegal and contrary to the established procedures".Sisodia also objected to the LG's decision to remove the members citing "difference of opinion".
"The 'difference of opinion' provision cannot be used like this. There is a procedure to do so and it can not be cited to frequently reverse the decisions taken by the government," he said. Sisodia also said, “The L-G is a resident of this country and has been appointed as per the laws and he will have to follow the Constitution as well as the judgments of the Supreme Court. He cannot change the decisions or the orders of the government whenever he wants.”
The AAP has the move "illegal, unconstitutional and contrary to the procedures" and that Lt Governor“does not have the power to issue such orders”. “The L-G’s orders removing Jasmine Shah and Naveen Gupta from the Board of DISCOMs is illegal and unconstitutional. L-G does not have the power to issue such orders.
Only the elected government has powers to issue orders on the subject of electricity. L-G has made a complete mockery of all Supreme Court orders and the Constitution. He is openly going around saying that SC orders are not binding on him,” the party said.
Earlier in the day, following the directions of Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, Delhi’s Power Department removed “AAP Spokesperson” Jasmine Shah; Naveen Gupta, son of AAP Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta; and other private individuals, who had allegedly been “illegally appointed” as government nominees on the board of private discoms. They have been replaced with senior government officials.