Delhi services Bill was taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Monday with Opposition parties including the Congress and AAP strongly opposing the legislation and dubbing it as “unconstitutional”.
On May 19, the Central government had brought an ordinance related to the transfer-posting of officers posted in the Delhi government. Through the ordinance, the government had overturned a decision of the Supreme Court to restore the right of transfer-posting of officers to the Delhi government.
Now, the same legislation is introduced through a Bill that is in the Rajya Sabha after clearance from the Lok Sabha. The Bill has already been passed in the Lok Sabha.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to replace the ordinance, was moved in the Rajya Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday afternoon amid fierce resistance from the Opposition parties associated with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
The Union home minister moved the Bill in the House after Opposition members moved a resolution disapproving of the ordinance which was brought by the government in May this year.
Earlier on August 3, the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha through voice vote amid strong opposition from the INDIA leaders and walkout by the Opposition MPs.
Participating in the debate in the upper house, Congress member Abhishek Manu Singhvi dismissed the Bill as contradictory to the Supreme Court judgement. “It violates the key concepts of federalism. The government’s intention is to control and control by hook and crook, more by crook less by hook, he added.
The Bill, the Congress leader pointed out clearly overrides two SC judgements. A nominated chief executive of the state will come under secretaries. Budget for the NCT will be prepared by the Delhi government, work for Delhi and appointments of officials from top to bottom will be done by National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA).
“This Bill is totally unconstitutional, fundamentally anti-democratic, and a frontal attack on the local voice and aspirations of the people of Delhi. It violates all principles of federalism, all norms of civil services accountability and all models of assembly-based democracy,” the Congress leader said.
Rajya Sabha MP and former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the Bill to replace the ordinance is “perfectly, legitimately valid” and that if any member disagrees, his conscience must be left free.
Participating in the debate in the Upper House of Parliament, Gogoi termed the Bill “correct and right”. He said the Bill takes away Section 3A from the Ordinance promulgated by the Centre in May this year.
“To my mind when 3A has been taken out of the Ordinance and it is not there in the Bill, the questions referred to the Constitution bench stand self-answered. Because if you read the order of the SC, referring the matter to the Constitution Bench…my view is that the entire reference has been necessitated by the provision of 3A of the Ordinance, which no longer exist,” he said.
Justice Gogoi, who is a nominated member of the house, said for Delhi, which has a special status, the legislature makes the laws on three subjects and Parliament has power to frame laws beyond these three subjects. “And that is exactly what the Bill is seeking to do. Therefore, there is no question of overreaching,” he added.
Meanwhile, senior Congress MP P Chidambaram said the BJP has won the last elections in Delhi 25 years ago and has no constitutional authority or moral right to speak for the people of Delhi.
He asked the treasury benches when the last time the BJP had won elections in Delhi. “Please remember you have no constitutional authority or moral right to pass this will,” Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha.
“Sheila Dikshit was Delhi’s chief minister for 15 years and she worked with two to three Lieutenant Governors. Not even once did the present arrangement come in the way of Sheila Dikshit’s functioning. Perhaps she was one of the best chief ministers the country has ever witnessed,” he said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha opposed the Delhi Services Bill in the Rajya Sabha saying that it is a political fraud and a constitutional sin.
He dubbed the Bill as the most undemocratic and illegal presented in the House and urged the saffron party to fulfill the wishes of veteran party leader Vajpayee and Advani.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Chadha referred to the recent Supreme Court ruling dated May 11 and said that a top court’s Constitution Bench unanimously reaffirmed that civil servants in the Government of NCT of Delhi are accountable to the elected Council of Ministers led by the Chief Minister.
He said that this accountability, he highlighted, was essential for a democratic and accountable form of government.
“The newly-introduced Ordinance undermines this accountability structure by transferring control from the elected Government of Delhi to the unelected Lt Governor,” Chadha said.
He accused the Ordinance of aiming to reduce the Delhi government to its elected aspect — possessing the people’s mandate but lacking the necessary governing mechanism to fulfill that mandate.