NEW DELHI, May 18: The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, the central government’s representative in the Delhi state administration, resigned from his post on Wednesday citing “personal reasons.”
A 1969-batch IAS officer, who was constantly at loggerheads with the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, submitted his resignation to the President Ram Nath Kovind, official sources said. He has served a tenure of five years and five months.
A retired civil servant, Baijal had taken over as Lieutenant Governor in December 2016 following the abrupt resignation of his predecessor Najeeb Jung. The role of Lieutenant Governor had been at the heart of an all-out power tussle between AAP government and the BJP, which rules at the centre, for years until a landmark Supreme Court judgement in 2018 that spelled out their powers more clearly.
The Lieutenant Governor does not have independent decision-making powers and the real power must lie with the elected government, the Supreme Court had ruled in a big win for the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the years-long fight for control of Delhi. The top court emphasized that except for anything related to land, police and public order, the Lt Governor has no independent decision-making powers under the constitution.
However, to nullify the apex court’s order, the central government in 2021, got the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, passed by Parliament which effectively made the L-G the overall head of the Delhi government, meaning all files would have to be passed through the Lieutenant Governor.
Baijal had earlier served as DDA vice-chairperson and Union Home Secretary during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He had also headed public sector companies including Prasar Bharati and Indian Airlines. Baijal had also served as secretary, Urban Development, from where he retired in 2006. The Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, to improve infrastructure and basic services in urban areas, was spearheaded by him.
He also served as a member of the Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal, and Renewable Energy chaired by SP Prabhu, currently Minister of Railways.
(Manas Dasgupta)
