The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Centre returns 14 bills passed by Delhi: ‘Did not obtain our approval’
STAGE SET FOR ANOTHER FACE-OFF
AMID A blame game over the murder of NDMC officer M M Khan, the AAP government and the Centre seem to be on another collision course, after the latter returned 15 Bills approved by the State Assembly, citing procedural lapses. One of these bills is the AAP’S flagship Janlokpal Bill 2015.
According to a senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Bills were returned as the Delhi government did not seek prior approval from the Centre, as required by law, before tabling them in the House.
Sources said since Delhi is a Union Territory, the Bills should first have been vetted by the ministries concerned of the Union government to ascertain whether they might have financial implications or if they were in conflict with rules of the central government, said sources.
On June 13, President Pranab Mukherjee had withheld assent to a Bill passed by the Delhi government in June 2015, to exempt the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the purview of office of profit with retrospective effect. The decision had raised questions about the fate of 21 AAP MLAS who hold the post of Parliamentary Secretaries.
The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification Amendment) Bill, 2015, was forwarded by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to the Centre, which in turn had sent it to the President with its comments.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue, asking him “if he was not allowing the Assembly to function because he was not able to digest the defeat?”
According to sources, the Bills returned to the Delhi government over the last few weeks include the Janlokpal Bill 2015, the Minimum Wages (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015, Delhi School (Verification Of Accounts and Refund of Excess Fee) Bill 2015, Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill 2015, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015 and a Bill related to working journalists.