The AAP cannot disregard the law of the land in pushing through its Jan lokpal.
Having scorned the national lokpal legislation as too feeble to “even catch a mouse”, the AAP government in Delhi promised to enact its own Jan Lokpal Bill. The bill is predictably heavy-handed — the jan lokpal would have the power to initiate proceedings, investigate and prosecute cases and could impose life imprisonment on officials. The AAP is intent on ramming this bill through, calculating that the Delhi Congress will not risk pulling the government down on the eve of Lok Sabha polls. The only hitch, though, is that the AAP’s action is illegal. Given that it will be partly funded from the Consolidated Fund of the Capital, the Jan Lokpal Bill needs the lieutenant governor’s permission to be introduced in the assembly. The lieutenant governor of Delhi consulted the solicitor general of India, who confirmed that the bill could not go to the assembly without the former’s permission.
The AAP has often conveyed a disregard for rules, suggesting that they are empty protocols that exist to serve a corrupt system. All too often, it has ended up showing a dangerous contempt for the rule of law itself, treating warrants as mere niceties, trying to arm organised crowds with sweeping powers over local government bodies. This time, the jan lokpal has simply hit a wall — the law of the land. The AAP would do well to back off.
