Setback For Arvind Kejriwal, INDIA Bloc As Rajya Sabha Passes Delhi Services Bill

New Delhi: In a setback for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, the Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the bill to replace an ordinance promulgated for handling the transfers and postings of senior officers in the Delhi government. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 passed the Rajya Sabha hurdle after Home Minister Amit Shah introduced it for consideration in the Upper House. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha last week.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies got a boost as Naveen Patnaik Biju Janata Dal and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP, with nine MPs each, supported the bill. On the other hand, the Opposition block, which brought a wheelchair-bound former prime minister Manmohan Singh and an ailing ex-Jharkhand chief minister Sibhu Soren to the House to shore up its numbers, could manage only 102 votes against the bill. The division of votes was done through paper slips after a technical error was reported in the automatic vote-recording machine

The ordinance was promulgated by the central government on May 19, a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order, and land to the elected government, currently headed by CM Arvind Kejriwal.

The Delhi government had then approached the Supreme Court for staying the ordinance. However, the apex court last month refused to grant an interim stay on the Centre's ordinance and referred it to a Constitution bench.

Delhi services bill not aimed at 'usurping power': Amit Shah

Replying to a six-hour charged debate in the House, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the urgency of first bringing an ordinance and now the bill was to stop Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from transferring officials connected to the probe into the Rs 2,000-crore liquor 'scam'.

He said that the Delhi Servies Bill has been brought to safeguard the rights of the people and not to 'usurp the power' of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. Shah assured that the Upper House the objective of the bill was 'only and only to provide efficient, corruption-free governance and popular government'.

The senior BJP leader also assured the members that there is not even a single provision that changes the status of the system prevailing since the Congress regime.

Shah asserted that the bill is constitutionally valid and it does not violate the Supreme Court judgment from any angle.

He said Delhi is different from other states because it houses Parliament, embassies, the Supreme Court and regularly many state heads from different countries visit the national capital. Therefore, Delhi was made a Union Territory.

"Delhi is a Union Territory with an assembly with limited powers," he said. In future, whoever fights elections in Delhi need to understand this character, Shah added.

Replying on the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha. https://t.co/4ttRqrSH2E — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 7, 2023

He said, "We have not brought the bill to usurp power. This is to stop the encroachment of the Delhi government on the Centre's powers."

On the charge of the bill being 'undemocratic', Shah hit out at the Congress saying it has no right to lecture on democracy as it had taken away the rights of the common people by imposing the Emergency during which over 3 lakh opposition leaders were jailed.

Controversy over motion moved by Raghav Chadha 

During the proceedings in Rajya Sabha, there was a controversy over one of the motions moved by AAP MP Raghav Chadha with at least four MPs, including Sasmit Patra of BJD and M Thambidurai of AIADMK, complaining that their names were included in the proposed select committee on the Delhi Services Bill without their consent.

Amit Shah said the inclusion of their names without consent was a fraud with Parliament and needs to be probed. On this, Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh said the issue will be probed.

Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023

The National Capital Civil Services Authority will consist of the chief minister, chief secretary, and the principal home secretary of Delhi.

The bill empowers the Authority to make recommendations to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) regarding transfers and postings of officials and disciplinary matters.

The bill also empowers the LG to exercise his sole discretion on several matters including those recommended by the National Capital Civil Services Authority, and the summoning, prorogation, and dissolution of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.