Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 30: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s ordinance on the matter of services. The move comes a month after the Centre nullified the apex court’s decision to hand over the reins of ‘Services’ – that is, the power to transfer bureaucrats posted to Delhi – and gave more teeth to the Lieutenant Governor in the administration of the capital.
Official sources said the government has challenged the contentious central government ordinance taking control of Delhi’s bureaucracy. The ordinance had sought to skirt a Supreme Court verdict which had given the power to the elected government to control the bureaucracy except in matters of law and order and land.
Officials said on Friday that the Delhi government, led by Arvind Kejriwal has filed the petition challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance, which was introduced by the BJP-led central government on May 19. The ordinance establishes a National Capital Civil Service Authority to manage the transfer and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers in Delhi.
The ordinance came into force just a week after a Supreme Court ruling transferred control of bureaucrats in the national capital’s administration, excluding police, public order, and land, to the elected government, led by the AAP.
Before the May 11 top court ruling, all officer transfers and postings in the Delhi government were under the executive control of the Lieutenant Governor, appointed by the central government. The Delhi government called the centre’s ordinance a circumvention of the Supreme Court verdict on control of services. “The ordinance of the central government should be immediately struck down,” the petition stated.
The AAP has also announced a series of public protests against the ordinance. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will burn copies of the ordinance at the party’s central Delhi office on July 3, AAP officials said.
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, who is also a minister in the Kejriwal cabinet, outlined an extensive protest plan during a press conference. He said copies of the ordinance will be burned across all 70 assembly constituencies of the national capital.
On July 3, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, cabinet ministers, and all the MLAs will burn copies of the black ordinance at the ITO party office. Then on July 5, the copies of the ordinance will be burned across all 70 parliamentary constituencies,” he said.
“Between July 6 and July 13, the copies of the ordinance will be set on fire at every nook and corner of Delhi. The seven vice presidents will ensure that they are burned in every area of Delhi,” Bhardwaj added. Dilip Pandey, Jarnail Singh, Gulab Singh, Jitender Tomar, Rituraj Jha, Rajesh Gupta, and Kuldeep Kumar, the seven vice presidents of the party, were present at the press conference where the announcement was made.
Bhardwaj accused the Centre of attempting to take “illegal” control of Delhi through the “black ordinance.” The party had previously organised a huge public rally against the ordinance on June 11.
The AAP had made the ordinance a prestigious issue and Kejriwal had been making whirlwind tour of the country to seek support of the non-BJP parties to defeat the ordinance-replacing bill in the Rajya Sabha. The AAP had also threatened to walk out of the opposition conclave if the Congress did not publicly oppose the ordinance and gave an assurance to support the AAP in defeating the bill in the Upper House.
The Congress, however, has maintained that the opposition strategy in the two house of Parliament were decided only on the eve of the Parliament sessions and there was no justification for making the Delhi ordinance an exception.
