Delhi Chief Minister has Arvind Kejriwal shot off a letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal asking him why he was being “selective” on implementation of the Supreme Court order, which last week cleared the role of the L-G in the administration of Delhi.
In his letter posted on Monday, Kejriwal asked the L-G to either follow the order in its entirety or reject the entire order outright.
“How can you be selective in accepting the judgment? Either you should take a position that all the matters would now be placed before regular bench and therefore, you would not implement any part of the order. Or you should accept the whole order and implement it. How can you say that you will accept this para of the order but not accept that para of the same order?” Kejriwal asked.
The Delhi CM said in his letter Baijal had agreed with Para 277 (xxi) of the judgment which says that concurrence of L-G was not required for decisions taken by the state government in any matter except three – Police, Land and Law-Order.
“However, you refuse to implement Para 277(xiv), (xv) and (xvi) of the same judgment, which says that executive powers of Central government are limited to 3 subjects only. In your support, you have relied upon the last Para 278 of the judgment, which says that ‘Matters be placed before the appropriate regular bench’,” wrote Kejriwal.
Attaching a table which showed that the L-G had agreed to everything the SC said except that of the reserved subjects, Kejriwal asserted that the MHA did not have the power to interpret SC order.
“If you have any confusion, kindly approach Honourable SC immediately for clarification but kindly don’t violate the SC order,” he wrote.
Hours after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment last week, the Delhi government introduced a new system for transfer and postings of bureaucrats, making the chief minister the approving authority. However, the services department refused to comply, saying the Supreme Court did not abolish the notification issued in, 2016 which made the MHA the authority for transfers and postings.
But the tussle between the L-G and the Delhi government continued over the number of subjects as laid down by the SC.
Last Friday, the chief minister had told reporters that the lieutenant-governor does not agree that control of the services department should be handed over to the Delhi government, and that it was the first time in India’s history that the central government had openly refused to obey the apex court’s order. He said that the MHA had advised the L-G not to hand over the services department to the Delhi government. This would lead to anarchy in the country, Kejriwal had said.