Centre’s ordinance fraud, deceit: AAP

The Ordinance also says Secretaries will have the powers to “bring it to the notice of Lieutenant Governor for taking a decision thereon” any proposal that she/he believes is not in accordance with the provisions of the law.

“The Centre’s ordinance reeks of malice. This is a case of fraud, cheating, and deceit and does not suit it. The Centre has not only cheated the Delhi government and people of Delhi but also the Supreme Court’s Constitution bench and Constitution of India. The people of Delhi elected CM Arvind Kejriwal to power thrice with a landslide mandate. But the Centre in its lust for power is disrespecting such a huge mandate to puppeteer the bureaucracy of Delhi. Centre has snatched away the elected CM’s powers and placed them in the hands of the selected L-G. This ordinance is an attempt to not only unjustifiably empower the L-G to do transfer posting against the will of the government but also impede upon the ongoing works of the government. This kind of fraud and deceit has never taken place in the history of the country, our citizens don’t deserve to be undermined like this,” said Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.

Minister Atishi said the Centre was scared of AAP and SC: “The Centre’s ordinance is a clear contempt of the verdict of the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench. The SC said in its verdict that the elected government should have the power to take decisions. This is democracy and this is what respecting democracy means. The Centre has brought this Ordinance because it is scared of the fear of defeat and the fear of giving power to Arvind Kejriwal’s government.”

As per AAP sources, the Delhi government will move contempt proceedings against the Centre soon.

Meanwhile, a senior bureaucrat said the timing of the Ordinance was also crucial. “The Supreme Court is on vacation Saturday onwards and it is unlikely that the vacation bench will take up this matter. The Ordinance is essentially giving veto power to the central government. Even the constitution of the new Authority is problematic since it has two officers appointed by the Centre and one representative of the elected government (CM). Where in the world does it happen that matters of transfers and postings of bureaucrats will be decided by them?” he said.

Another bureaucrat said the Ordinance goes against the basic structure of the Constitution. “A representative government in a federal set up is part of our basic structure? This goes completely against that. This is a violation of these principles,” the officer said.

Referring to the structure of the Authority, a bureaucrat questioned the effective power the CM effectively had as part of it:“It is headed by a CM who seems to be chairperson only in name. His decisions will be vetoed every chance by centrally appointed officers; and even if they do make it beyond that point, by the centrally-appointed LG.”

The Delhi BJP, meanwhile, welcomed the Ordinance. “Delhi is the capital of the country, the whole of India has the right over it and for quite some time, the administrative dignity of Delhi has been hurt by the local Arvind Kejriwal government. Ambassadors of every country of the world live in Delhi and the dignity of India gets tarnished all over the world because of administrative mishappenings…,” said state unit president Virendra Sachdeva.