Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Monday took a dig at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying that he appreciates the fact that the Chief Minister has started taking governance in Delhi seriously.
The L-G said in his letter to Kejriwal said: “I am in receipt of several letters from you over the past few days. At the outset, I would like to express my appreciation for the fact that you have started taking governance in the city seriously and getting into the intricacies of Constitutional provisions, Statutes and Acts that outline the multi-layered scheme of administration in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.”
Saxena said the provisions governing administration in Delhi emanate out of severe deliberations in the Constituent Assembly, State Reorganization Commission, and the Parliament of India, apart from having been clearly interpreted by the Supreme Court of India on several occasions.
“While the same is amply clear for any practitioner of Statecraft, lawyer, scholar as indeed a common citizen concerned with it, for the sake of ample clarity, I would like to invite you for a meeting where we could discuss issues threadbare,” the L-G further wrote.
Kejriwal recently after the MCD House clash, questioned Saxena over the ‘conflict of powers’ and sought clarification over his official position on the term “LG/Administrator” used in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and said that the elected government (PM, CMs ) across India will become irrelevant if ‘Administrator’ is defined as the President or the Governor.
To discuss all these issues, the L-G has invited the CM to the meeting. Saxena wrote: “We used to meet regularly till October 2022, when you expressed your inability to meet due to your preoccupation with State Assembly and Municipal Elections.”
“Now that the same is over, it will be in the fitness of things that such meetings are resumed in the interest of consciously deliberative and conflict-free governance of the City, in the interest of its people. Your office may accordingly fix up any mutually convenient meeting date, which I am sure will lead to broader clarity,” Saxena concluded in the letter.
After the chaos and clashes between AAP and BJP councillors that led to the adjournment of the MCD House on the first day of proceedings on January 6, the Delhi Chief Minister wrote a letter to Saxena.
“The elected govt is directly accountable to the people. Please allow the elected govt to work for the people,” said Kejriwal in the letter to the L-G.
Underlining the last few days of development, the Chief Minister said: “Hon’ble L-G is directly issuing orders on practically every subject irrespective of whether it is reserved or transferred, irrespective of whether Hon’ble LG has the powers to do that or not. Hon’ble LG issues directions directly to the Chief Secretary who in turn gets them implemented completely bypassing and ignoring the elected govt.”
“One would ask why are the officers implementing L-G’s illegal orders? Because Hon’ble L-G has complete control over the bureaucracy. L-G has power to transfer, suspend or take any other action against any employee of Delhi govt. Unfortunately, the elected govt of Delhi has no control over employees. Therefore, Delhi govt officers do not have the courage to say no to LG even if his orders are completely bizarre,” he said further in the letter.