Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken on Saturday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was trying to hoodwink the people of Delhi on the issue of full statehood to Delhi after failure of second phase of even-odd scheme. He said the power to make amendments in the Constitution was vested only with Parliament and the Delhi Government cannot pass any Bill for full statehood to Delhi.
Doubting the seriousness of the AAP Government over the statehood demand, Maken said it was very strange that though the Kejriwal Government has been in power for 15 months now, it should have written to the Central Government about it much earlier, instead of dusting out the issue now.
Maken further said when Kejriwal sat on a dharna on the Republic Day earlier, and if the Delhi Police was under the Delhi Government’s control, then Army would have been called to hold the Republic Day parade. To avoid all these controversies, Delhi has not been given full statehood. The Press conference addressed by Maken clearly reflected that the party has taken a U-turn from its earlier stand on the issue of statehood to Delhi.
Maken said under Article 239 AA of the Constitution of India, the NCT of Delhi Act was made in 1991, and to run this Act, the Transaction of Business Rules were framed and if these business rules are taking away the powers of the Delhi Act, in that case the Delhi Government should approach the Committee on Delegated legislation for making changes in the said business rules, meaning thereby that only the committee on Delegated legislation has the power to make changes in the said business rules. He said the present administrative setup in Delhi was the best in the country compared to any other mega city as Delhi, under the rule of the Congress Government for 15 years, was made the best on the development index, whether it was regarding roads, flyovers, Delhi Metro, greenery, health care and education.
Maken said the vexed question on statehood and the extent of powers to be passed on to Delhi Government has been debated five times at the highest level all through the last century. In 1912, while shifting the Capital from Kolkata to Delhi, this was discussed as “it is generally recognised”, observed the Government of India in their Dispatch to the Secretary of State dated August 25, 1911, “that the Capital of a great Central Government should be separate and independent” (thereby making it away from the control of any Provincial Government and directly under the National Government) “and effect has been given to this principle in the United States, Canada and Australia”.
Maken said the Indian Constitution Drafting Committee under Bhim Rao Ambedkar had also put Delhi under Part C States without subjects of law and order, local self-governing institutions, the Improvement Trust (1937) (Previous avatar of DDA) and other statutory boards regulating certain public utility services in Delhi and New Delhi.