Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday alleged that the new GNCTD Bill passed in Lok Sabha is an “insult” to Delhi citizens. The Lok Sabha passed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Bill amid opposition from Congress, Shiv Sena and Aam Aadmi Party who claimed that the amendment is “unconstitutional”.

The Delhi Chief Minister took to Twitter after the developments and wrote, “The passage of the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha today is an insult to the people of Delhi. The Bill effectively takes away powers from those who were voted by people and gives powers to run Delhi to those who were defeated. BJP has cheated the people.”

Compared to the New Delhi’s elected Aam Aadmi Party government, the GNCTD Bill gives more powers to the L G (Lieutenant Governor) who will be represented by the Centre. According to the new bill, the Delhi’s government will need to take the final opinion of the Centre’s L G before taking any action.

What is the GNCTD Bill?

The GNCTD Bill, 2021 was introduced by the Minister of State for Home Kishan Reddy. The bill is an amendment which will see 4 clauses seeing an amendment.

The first amendment will be seen in the Section 21 which states: “Restrictions on laws passed by Legislative Assembly with respect to certain matters”. There will be a new subsection in the bill which will make it clearer that “Government” is referred to the Lieutenant Governor who will green light any law passed by the Legislative Assembly.

The second amendment will be seen in the Section 24 that pertains to Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly. The new amendment will see that the L G not pass an official agreement or disagreement for consideration of any bill that “covers any matters which falls outside the purview of powers conferred on Legislative Assembly”.

The third amendment will be made in the Section 33 of the bill which says that any laws or rules passed by the Legislative Assembly for procedure regulation and business conduct shall not be “inconsistent” with the Rules of Procedure.

Lastly, any rule made in contradiction before the GNCTD Act, 2021 will be null and void. Any rules passed by the Legislative Assembly to enable itself to consider day-to-day administration of New Delhi will also be void.

Is this amendment constitutional?

The bench of 5 judges- CJI Dipak Misra, A.K. Sikri, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan in Supreme Court gave a ruling in 2018 saying that the L G’s approval is not required on issues other than administration of police, public order and land. The Supreme Court also stayed on its decision that the Delhi Council of Ministers will communicate with L G. The court in its ruling said, “It has to be clearly stated that requiring prior concurrence of the Lieutenant Governor would absolutely negate the ideals of representative governance and democracy conceived for the NCT of Delhi by Article 239AA of the Constitution.”

The Supreme Court bench also added, “The status of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi is not that of a Governor of a State, rather he remains an Administrator, in a limited sense, working with the designation of Lieutenant Governor”.

In its judgement, the Supreme Court said, “Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor’s status is not that of a governor of a state, rather he remains an administrator, in a limited sense, working with the designation of Lieutenant Governor. The L-G is bound by the advice of the council of the ministers. L-G had to either act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers or implement the decision taken by the President on a reference being made by him.”

The issue is rooted by AAP’s promise of helping Delhi achieve a complete statehood. After being elected as the ruling party by the Delhi citizens for the second time back in 2015, AAP has been fighting with Centre due to the fact that the land, public order, police and services, 4 major sectors remain completely in control of the L-G. However, when Supreme Court passed the judgement in 2018 that the L-G will be bound by the insights of the Council of Ministers in matters not directly under his control, AAP recognized the justice given to them.

What does the opposition and the Centre say?

While AAP and Congress, who have been at loggerheads with the current ruling party, BSP, Shiv Sena also strongly opposed the bill during the parliamentary proceedings. The opposition parties claimed that the BJP is looking to get more power and nullify the government elected by people.

MP Hasnain Masoodi from J&K opposed the bill in Lok Sabha.

Shiv Sena MP also spoke in opposition against the GNCTD Bill

Meanwhile, representing BJP, Manoj Tiwari said how the bill’s aim is to remove any confusion and the bill doesn’t aim to grab power through governmental backdoors. Tiwari alleged that AAP has been trying to govern Delhi like a state and not a Union Territory.