NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday in its affidavit informed the Supreme Court that Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s office has “derailed” the governance of the city “in complete disregard of constitutional commitments to representative democracy and federalism”.
The affidavit also alleged that the L-G is “running a parallel system of governance in the NCT of Delhi” by abrogating to himself the powers of an elected government. “The L-G has consistently stalled and impeded the functioning of the elected Government of NCT of Delhi, by the exercise of powers of veto and non-concurrence that do not constitutionally vest in him,” the affidavit stated.
Filing its reply in the case related to dispute between the AAP and the Central Government regarding power of postings and transfers of civil servants belonging to All India Services GNCTD, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also said that pursuant to the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021, Lieutenant- Governor’s office has been systematically eroding the guardrails built into the Constitution to preserve representative democracy and a federal structure of governance.
As per the amendment, the power to assign posts, effect transfers within the government and discipline the civil servants is exercised by the Central Government/Lieutenant Governor. In another affidavit filed, Sisodia while highlighting the difficulties that are being faced by the AAP due to conflict in control over services also submitted that despite advance notices, senior civil servants and heads of departments routinely skip meetings and are also routinely not taking telephone calls of ministers.