New Law Makes LG Head of Delhi Government, Delhi CM Loses Power
As this Bill has become law after the clearance from the President, the status of Kejriwal has been virtually reduced to the level of a personal assistant to LG.
By Rakesh Raman
President of India Ram Nath Kovind cleared a new Bill on Sunday (March 28) that gives all the administrative powers of Delhi to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) – who is currently Anil Baijal.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill makes it clear that the term “government” in Delhi means the LG of Delhi and the elected government of chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal cannot take any decision independently. In other words, the Kejriwal government will have to take LG’s consent before taking any executive action.
The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on March 22 and in the Rajya Sabha on March 24. The presidential assent to the Bill was announced by the Central government through a gazette notification on March 28.
As this Bill has become law after the clearance from the President, the status of Kejriwal has been virtually reduced to the level of a personal assistant to LG. Now the Delhi LG will be calling the shots in Delhi while Kejriwal has been relegated to a mere figurehead role.
President Ram Nath Kovind gives his assent to Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The Bill amends certain powers and responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor. pic.twitter.com/D96c2UdyRH— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) March 28, 2021
Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been blaming Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi for attacking the democratically elected government of Delhi by giving powers to the LG who has been handpicked by the Modi government.
However, it is believed that this experiment of shifting the power center was necessary, as the Kejriwal government has failed on all fronts. Today, Delhi is the most polluted national capital in the world, rampant corruption is happening in almost all the government departments, school education is going from bad to worse, and the healthcare system has completely collapsed. [ You can click here to download and study a related report on Delhi. ]
Kejriwal and his party colleagues have been accusing the LG for their own failures since 2013 when Kejriwal first formed the government after cheating anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare who was running a massive campaign against corruption.
As Kejriwal was part of this campaign, he deceptively leveraged it to form AAP and become chief minister, although it was supposed to be a non-political movement against corruption. Since Kejriwal and his party members are clueless about administrative norms, they accuse the LG of interference in their work.
Now, LG Anil Baijal is expected to bring some relief to the people of Delhi who are virtually living in a veritable hell created and run by Kejriwal and his AAP.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
