The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has notified the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi as the effective in-charge of the national capital by notifying a new law making it clear the city’s elected government will now have to seek the opinion of the LG before any executive decision.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 came on Tuesday night, as the city battles a ferocious COVID-19 wave and its healthcare system is stretched to a breaking point.
According to the notification issued by the MHA, The act came into force on April 27.
After the notification, the “government” in Delhi now means the “Lieutenant Governor”. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2021 (15 of 2021), the Central Government hereby appoints the 27th April 2021 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” stated the notification signed by additional secretary in the MHA, Govind Mohan.
Three key subjects in Delhi — public order, police and land – are already in the hands of the Central government while sectors such as health, education, agriculture, forest and transport are with the city government.
The act has been notified at a time the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government are under the spotlight over the handling of the pandemic and the subsequent scarcity of oxygen, hospital beds and essential medicines.
When the bill was passed by Parliament last month – in the Lok Sabha on March 22 and in the Rajya Sabha on March 24 — Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had termed it a “sad day for Indian democracy”.
Reacting to the development, the AAP government on Wednesday said that the move will “definitely adversely affect covid management in the national capital”.
“We really hoped that the central government should have waited at least till the end of the second wave. Delhi is amidst the covid-19 crisis and by notifying this right in the middle of the second wave, it can lead to a lot of chaos. This could definitely adversely affect covid management in the national capital,” it said.
“Under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, we are working on every possible aspect to tackle the second wave of COVID. The Central government and the Delhi government are working together. But such notification will bring a lot of confusion and when the work is going on war footing the last thing people can expect is chaos and confusion among the administrations,” the party rued.