The ongoing tussle between the Delhi government and the national capital’s Lieutenant Governor intensified on Friday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal leveling fresh allegations against Vinay Saxena.
Friday meeting turns into flashpoint
After meeting the Lt Governor, Kejriwal asked him to keep politics out of matters of governance and accused Saxena of non-cooperation.
power struggle
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said he had taken copies of the Constitution, GNCTD Act and Motor Vehicles Act with him to his meeting with Saxena.
“The Delhi LG is interfering in the work of the government causing inconvenience to the people of Delhi. My intention was to sort out the issues, so I took copies of the Constitution, Motor Vehicles Act, School Education Act, Supreme Court judgements.” ” They said.
Kejriwal said there are two types of subjects in Delhi – “reserved subjects” which include police, land and public order, on which only the LG can decide, and “transferred subjects”.
He said, “All other subjects come under the Delhi government. On July 4, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had given a verdict, which said that the LG was not entrusted with the power to take any independent decision in the matter of transferred subjects Is.”
He also said, “There is no independent authority vested in the LG to take decisions. In some cases, he can act as a judicial authority.”
Recovery notice for advertising expenses “illegal and unconstitutional”
Kejriwal said this means that various orders passed by the LG, including sealing the office of Jasmine Shah, vice-chairman of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission and issuing a notice seeking recovery of Rs 164 crore for advertisement expenses, are “illegal and unconstitutional”.
“However, he said that he is referred to as ‘administrator’ and enjoys supreme authority,” Kejriwal said.
The chief minister also alleged that several departments stopped payments to the Delhi government three months before the MCD elections.
“The officials said they were informally asked to do so. It was done to harm AAP in the elections,” he alleged.
Kejriwal: Let the elected governments work
There has been a tussle between the two sides for power for a long time. On Friday morning, Kejriwal referred to a newspaper article on the role of governors and said, “Let elected governments work. Stopping elected governments from doing their work for petty partisan gains is bad for the people, democracy and the Constitution.” ”
LG Saxena’s letter to Kejriwal
On 9 January, LG Saxena through a letter invited Kejriwal for a meeting to discuss the provisions of governance in Delhi. He also suggested that the Chief Minister hold regular meetings with the residents of the national capital for a “conflict-free” governance in the interest of them.
The LG had also said that the Chief Minister used to meet him regularly till October 2022, but later expressed his inability to do so due to his preoccupation with Delhi municipal elections and elections to various states. The Lieutenant Governor’s office in Delhi and the AAP government have been at loggerheads several times on various issues.
Kejriwal’s letter to Saxena
Kejriwal, in his recent letters to Saxena, questioned the nomination of the presiding officer and alderman of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as well as members of the Haj committee, asking if the LG’s role as “administrator” was being overlooked by the elected government in Delhi. To do.
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