MHA trying to mislead people on services issue, stop govt from working: AAP

Following the Supreme Court verdict last week, the elected government and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal have been in a tussle over who controls the services department.

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AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharwaj (Source: Twitter/@Saurabh_MLAgk)

The AAP Sunday said the Ministry of Home Affairs’ view that the services matter was still pending with the Supreme Court was a “defeatist and desperate attempt to mislead” people through “deliberate misinformation”.

Following the Supreme Court verdict last week, the elected government and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal have been in a tussle over who controls the services department. While Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the Centre and the L-G were violating the SC order by refusing to hand over the department to the government, the MHA had said it would be against the law to take a final view on the issue, since it was pending in court.

This, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, was aimed at “subverting the rule of law”. “This is a clear attempt to spread deliberate misinformation with the intention of delaying the implementation of the landmark SC verdict,” he said.

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The delay, AAP leaders claimed, was aimed at ensuring that the AAP government and its legislators remain embroiled in legal matters in the months leading up to the 2019 elections. “Once the code of conduct is in place, no work can be done. This is a delay tactic to stop the government from fulfilling its promises,” said an AAP leader.

Bhardwaj added, “The MHA, knowing fully well that its May 21, 2015 notification, through which it had illegally tried to amend the Constitution of India through an executive notification to usurp the rights of the democratically elected Delhi government, has now been completely reversed by the SC. Therefore, the MHA is now trying to unsuccessfully divert attention.”

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On Saturday, while dubbing the Centre as “anarchist”, Kejriwal had indicated that the AAP government does not immediately plan to take legal recourse on the impasse over control of services.

He also said that the attempt to “delay” and “mislead” was being done with the “intention of hiding the illegal actions committed by the L-G’s office during the last two years, following the Delhi High Court judgment of August 4, 2016”.

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