According to a notification issued by the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, which gives primacy to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government in the city, has come into force on 27th April.

Additional Secretary, Govind Mohan who assigned the notification said that, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2021 (15 of 2021), the Central Government hereby declares 27th April 2021 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force.”

Adding further to it was stated that the legislation, the “government” in Delhi means the “Lieutenant Governor” and the city government will now have to seek the opinion of the L-G before taking any executive action.

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The controversial act, which has faced a lot of backlash by the opposition party they called this AAP government undermining law ‘unconstitutional and anti-democratic’. This development in the process came after President of India Ram Nath Kovind last month cleared the law giving more powers to the Delhi LG, when the opposition party decided to walk out of the parliament.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 was enacted to supplement the provisions of the Constitution pertaining to the Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers for Delhi. In judgments of July 4, 2018, and February 14, 2019, the Supreme Court predicted the provisions of Article 239AA of the Constitution relating to the structure of governance in the National Capital Territory.

The Centre sought to amend the law to give a commencement to the interpretation made by the apex court in the aforementioned judgments and to promote peaceful and kind relations between the legislature and the executive.

Few highlights of the passed bill

1. The rules made by the Legislative Assembly will be continuing with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Lok Sabha.

2. The Legislative Assembly cannot make rules to consider matters of the singular day administration of Delhi and conduct any probe into administrative decisions. All such rules made before the enactment of this bill will be cancelled or no longer in acceptance.

3. The L-G also has to reserve bills that cover any of the matters outside the purview of the Legislative Assembly for the approval of the President.