NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a Bill granting the Delhi Lieutenant Governor powers over transfers and postings of senior bureaucrats in the national capital, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacking the Opposition for “uniting against the Bill not in the interest of democracy or nation, but in the interest of their own alliance”.
“Why did you not participate in debates on nine Bills passed so far during this session? Were those Bills not important? Today you are sitting here just to save your alliance unity…Add more parties to your group, but Narendra Modi will be the next PM,” the minister said.
Shah was replying to an over four-hour long debate that preceded passage of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, with a voice vote. The Bill is set for a smooth passage in the Rajya Sabha too with the BJD and the YSRCP pledging to back the government, shoring up its numbers.
The Bill replaces a May 19 ordinance and amends the original Act passed in 1991 laying down powers of the Delhi Government.
Several Opposition MPs walked out with AAP’s lone MP from Jalandhar Sushil Rinku being suspended for the rest of the session over unruly conduct. Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury along with the larger INDIA alliance parties opposed the Bill, claiming it was “unconstitutional and anti-federal”.
Shah defended Centre’s powers over making laws in Delhi, a UT, saying, “the Bill is constitutional and brought with the purpose of public welfare alone; not with any political motives.”
Attacking the Opposition for coming together while fighting each other in states, Shah said, “India is witnessing your double standards. The Bills of public interest are not important for you. You have assembled here today so that a small party does not quit your alliance,” Shah said.
He said the ordinance and Bill were necessitated because “there was no rule of law in Delhi where ministers were signing Cabinet notes.”
Shah asked why the Delhi Government went straight for change of Vigilance Department officers after Supreme Court’s judgment on postings.
“This was because sensitive files on Delhi excise scam, illegal spending on CM’s bungalow; Rs 90 crore spending on AAP ads, feedback unit were all lying with the Vigilance,” said Shah.
“The problem with them is not control of transfers and postings of officers, it is to hide the truth behind the bungalow worth crores by taking control of Vigilance and suppressing truth on corruption,” he said.
Shah said from 1993 to 2015 services were under the Centre, while both the BJP and the Congress were in power in Delhi. “There was no dispute,” he said, adding that the Act on powers of the Delhi Government was passed in 1991 when the Congress was in power.