NEW DELHI: The Delhi Assembly will knock the doors of Supreme Court challenging 'unconstitutional' provisions of the the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel announced on Friday.
Referring to the "undemocratic" amendments made to the Act which have "infringed upon the right of the Assembly committees", Goel said the House will take this legal step soon. “We will go to the Supreme Court challenging certain provisions of the GNCTD Act, which completely undermine the rights of the committees. It is completely undemocratic. Never since the inception of this Assembly has any government taken any such step. This is for the future of this institution.”
The ruling AAP, which enjoys majority in the Assembly, expressed grave concerns over the GNCTD Amendment Act in the past too. It accuses the Centre of trying to govern the national capital through the “backdoor”, claiming that the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal to give more powers to the Lieutenant Governor.
The BJP, on the other hands, asserts this is an important step to ensure proper governance in the city. "The central government is crossing all limits to stop the democratically elected government of Delhi from functioning. They tried to do so in 2015 also, but we went to the SC and got justice," said Goel.
"I believe the SC will do justice with us. Nowhere in the democratic world, we find such brazen unconstitutional acts to destroy the powers of committees set up by Assembly," Goel added.
According to AAP insiders, the recent directive by the apex court in the Facebook versus Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee, where it stated that such committees can summon and question in such matters gives hope to the ruling party.
The Act, passed in Parliament in March, makes it clear that the "government" in Delhi means the "Lieutenant Governor". The Act makes it mandatory for the Delhi government to take the opinion of the L-G before any executive action.
It also states that the L-G's opinion shall be obtained before the Delhi government takes any executive action based on decisions taken by the Cabinet or any individual minister.
This, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government contends, is being done to slow down the process of decision making and delay developmental work, so that the BJP can embarrass the administration before the public.
WHY THE FIGHT
The Act makes it mandatory for the Delhi government to take the opinion of the L-G before any executive action. This, the AAP contends, is being done to slow down the process of decision making and delay public works