DELHI BUDGET { }
has been presenting themed budgets with the first being “swaraj” (self-rule).
Atishi, who announced an allocation of Rs 8,423 crore for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, said the government was working with the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad to modernise the tax collection system with the use of artificial intelligence.
Education received the highest allocation (Rs 16,396 crore), followed by health (Rs 8,685 crore), which have been AAP’s focus areas.
Atishi said 38 schools of excellence have been opened since 2021-22. “The tin-shed schools have turned into talent schools. Kejriwal has pushed the government schools into the league of the best in the country.” She said students from poor families were now getting admission to top institutes.
She said 2121 Delhi government school students cleared exams for admissions to top engineering and medical colleges in 2023-2024.
Atishi said the healthcare system was sick and people preferred private hospitals before 2014. “In the last nine years, the health care system has been transformed. In 2014-15, there were 9523 beds in the hospitals which has increased to 13708 now... over 1.5 times more patients are being treated in these hospitals.”
She said Kejriwal prioritised women’s safety. “In 10 years, the AAP government has taken multiple measures to provide women relief through free and quality education, free electricity, water, and free pilgrimage.”
She said around 1.1 million women travel for free on buses daily. “From 2019, Kejriwal has provided women in Delhi with the freedom to travel for free on buses...” She announced an allocated Rs 80 crore for the free pilgrimage scheme.
Atishi said four state-of-theart court complexes will be built in 2024-25 in Rohini, Karkardooma, Shastri Park, and Rouse Avenue. “In the fiscal year 2014-15, the budget for the justice system was Rs 760 crore...in 2024-25, it has increased by nearly four times, reaching Rs 3,098 crore.”
Atishi said Delhi successfully met its peak power demand of 7,438 MW without load shedding in 2023-24. She added that 2.2 million families receive zero electricity bills. “About 30% of Delhi’s power supply comes from green and renewable energy.”
She announced Rs 3,353 crore allocation for the power sector. “The subsidy scheme will continue.” She added around 62.5% of homes in Delhi receive water completely free of cost. “After 2014, the Kejriwal government has laid 2422 kilometers of new water pipelines and 3100 kilometers of new sewer pipelines... 99.6% of unauthorised colonies have water pipelines.”
She said the AAP government has developed a network of roads and flyovers in Delhi. “The Kejriwal government has constructed 30 new corridors, flyovers, bridges, and underpasses in the past nine years, to make traffic smoother in the city.”
SC ON BRIBERY
ing bribes, but it did not protect those who received bribes but did not keep their end of the bargain.
The1998judgmenthadcomein the backdrop of the JMM bribery scandal that rocked the Congress government, headed by PV Narasimha Rao in 1993. The Narasimha Rao government allegedly bribed several parliamentarians across parties to defeat a no-confidence motion.
The top court, in a 3-2 verdict, decidedin1998thatMPswhotook the bribe and voted in the House could not be prosecuted as they enjoyed immunity under Article 105(2) of the Constitution. However, such protection will not be available to an MP who received a bribe but abstained from voting or making a speech, the judgment added. Itwasthisanomalythatled the court to clear prosecution of then MP Ajit Singh, who allegedly took a bribe but abstained from voting.
The seven-judge bench had on October5lastyearreserveditsverdict on the correctness of the 1998 ruling even as the Union governmentimploredthebenchtonullify the precedential value of the 1998 judgment while emphasising that any act of bribery outside legislative Houses are prosecutable under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
While making the request to declare the 25-year-old judgment “per incuriam” (rendered in ignorance of a statute), the Centre, represented through attorney general R Venkataramani and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, also proposedthatanin-housecommittee, to be coined as “speech and vote watch”, could be a worthwhile alternative to the judicially mandated guidelines that the sevenjudge Constitution bench may consider.