Seats in AAP ‘watchdogs’ fall vacant after EC decision

NEW DELHI: Seats in at least a dozen committees of the Delhi Assembly have fallen vacant after President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday disqualified 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators in the office of profit case.

The matter now lies with Speaker Ram Niwas Goel who will have to nominate names from the remaining 50 MLAS, four of which are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

However, it is to be seen if Goel nominates members in the coming days or waits to formally announce it on April 1, as the committees have to be reconstituted at the start of every financial year, even though the MLAS can be repeated.

Kasturba Nagar MLA Madan Lal, who is one among those ousted from the assembly, was the chairman of the committee on privileges which was examining at least five different cases. These included the “breach of privilege proceedings” against former Public Works Department (PWD) chief Ashwini Kumar. He was also a part of four other committees.

“The chairman can also be elected by the members of the particular committee in its subsequent meeting,” said an official of the assembly.

Of the 20 MLAS, eight were each members of five committees, and another eight were part of six. Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha had membership in eight committees. He was also the chairman of the standing committee on education. Rajesh Gupta of Wazirpur was a member in seven committees and Gandhi Nagar MLA Anil Bajpai was member of one. Kailash Gahlot was member of none as he is a minister in the Cabinet.

The posts lying vacant in the assembly committees assume significance as the Speaker, unlike during previous governments, referred vital cases involving the city’s bureaucracy to them. For the Kejriwal government, as the AAP has often argued, the house committees act as its “watchdog.”

A war between the Lieutenant Governor and the AAP had erupted in September last year when L-G Anil Baijal had written to the home ministry for dismantling the department-related standing committees (DRSCS) saying that their power was in excess as compared to such committees in the Lok Sabha.

The DRSCS are meant to provide direction, guidance and inputs for broad policy formulations to the ministries and departments under their jurisdiction.

For this, Baijal had asked the Speaker to withdraw the newly inserted Legislative Assembly Rules which he felt gave more powers to the house committees compared to the ones formed under the Lok Sabha Rules.

Following this, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia termed the L-G’S message “unconstitutional” and the assembly had passed a resolution to form a committee to look into the legality of Baijal’s view.