‘If all left to officials, what’s need for elected legislators?’ Oppn slams govt on NCT Bill

Initiating the discussion on The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the Centre of unnecessarily “meddling” with the affairs of Delhi, and said that if successful, it could mount such attacks in other states. “If you leave everything to bureaucrats, then we don’t need to fight elections to get here,” he said.

The Bill seeks to replace an ordinance passed by the Centre earlier taking over the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government’s powers regarding officials.

While the RSP’s N K Premachandran said the Bill goes “against the principle of federalism envisaged by the Constitution”, the AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi said that the Government cannot use a simple Bill to amend the Constitution.

The Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee said the Bill had been brought to override a Supreme Court judgment, and called it an abrogation of the legislative power of the Union territory of Delhi.

After the Bill was passed by the House, the lone Lok Sabha MP of the AAP, Sushil Kumar Rinku, was suspended for the remaining part of the Monsoon Session over “unruly behaviour in the House”. Rinku had come to the well of the house, tore some papers and threw them in the direction of Speaker Om Birla after the Bill got cleared.

During the debate, Chowdhury said the concept of “a triple chain of command” is the foundational principle of India’s Constitutional structure, with civil service officers accountable to ministers, ministers accountable to the Legislature, and the Legislature accountable to the electorate.

The discussion saw some friendly banter between Chowdhury and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who while moving the Bill recalled that Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, C Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad and B R Ambedkar had opposed full statehood for Delhi during the Constituent Assembly debates.

In his reply, Chowdhury said it was nice to hear Shah praise Nehru and the Congress. “I thought, what is this I am seeing… Yeh din hai ya raat hai? Main toh socha ki daud ke jayoon aur Amit Shah ke munh main shakkar aur shahad daaloon (Is it day or night? I thought I must rush over and thank Amit Shah).”

To this, Shah immediately intervened and said he had not praised Nehru and had only quoted what the former prime minister had said. “I have no objection if you want to consider it as praise,” Shah said.

Chowdhury hit back accusing the government of selectively falling back on Nehru. “Had you taken the sahara (support) of Nehru all along… we would not have seen what is happening in Manipur and Haryana,” he said.

Speaking about the NCT Bill, the Congress leader said: “One day I asked myself what Delhi is. And I got the reply that if sky is the body, then Delhi is its life. So I want to ask, why are you meddling with Delhi… If you keep meddling with Delhi like this… then gradually you will start mounting such attacks on other states as well. If you felt there were scams taking place in Delhi, was it necessary to bring such a Bill? You have with you the ED, CBI… many other forces.”

He said the ordinance itself sidestepped democratic and judicial discussions. “The ordinance was promulgated just six days after the decision of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court. The ordinance came into effect just before the summer vacation of the Supreme Court… Why were you in such a hurry?” Chowdhury said.

The Congress leader was referring to the May 11 judgment of the Supreme Court which gave control over services to the Delhi government. On May 19, the Centre promulgated an ordinance to nullify the Supreme Court judgment. The ordinance envisaged creation of a National Capital Civil Service Authority empowered to recommend transfers and postings of all Group A and DANICS officers.

Contesting the Centre’s argument that Delhi is not a full-fledged state but only a Union territory, “which is an extension of the Union”, Chowdhury said: “When members come elected, when a Legislative Assembly is constituted of elected members, won’t they have the right to legislate? Will that right be snatched? If you finish off the Legislative Assembly and give all the powers and responsibilities to bureaucrats… bureaucrats will decide how the government will function… will that be right for the country?”

As per the new Bill envisaging a National Capital Civil Service Authority, Chowdhury said: “If you leave everything to bureaucrats, then humhein chunkar yahan aane ki kya zaroorat hai (what is the need for us to fight an election to come here)?”

The Congress leader also objected to the provision (45 J 4) which introduces a new procedure for summoning and proroguing a session of the Assembly. Noting that under the present system, the decision to convene a session is taken by the Cabinet and conveyed to the Governor, Chowdhury said that the new provision says that the proposal for convening the Assembly shall be submitted through the Chief Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister for their “opinion”, before issuing the summons.

The NCP’s Supriya Sule accused the BJP government of intimidating people. “The BJP confidently says that the country gave a mandate to their government in 2019. Congratulations, you won, we lost. However, why are there different rules for the Kejriwal government and the BJP? When the Kejriwal government gets a mandate, then that is wrong, and when you get a mandate, then you call it popularity,” Sule said.

“With this Bill, what will happen to the Delhi bureaucracy? What will happen to the government elected by the people?” said the BRS’s Ranjith Reddy.

The DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran said that the move by the Government shows the BJP’s frustration over the Aam Aadmi Party forming governments in Delhi and in Punjab. “This is the government elected by the people, not once, but twice. But the formula followed by the Home Minister is simple – wherever the BJP can’t win, we will send the CBI and ED,” he said, adding that they don’t respect people’s verdict.

The intention behind the law is to control the Delhi government, it has been brought with wrong intentions, Maran said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the Bill was an assault on India’s democratic heritage. “The government is basically introducing a Constitutional amendment without calling it that… Secondly, you have a no-confidence motion pending. While that is pending, you are bringing such a fundamental, substantive policy change.”