NEW DELHI: After Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has rejected empanelment of 13 prominent lawyers by the Delhi government over alleged procedural lapses, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the LG has no power to reject any government proposal and called the move "unconstitutional."
"LG does not have the power to reject any govt proposal. Under constitution, LG can only express his difference of opinion. This rejection is completely illegal, unconstitutional and without jurisdiction. LG shud follow constitution," the Chief Minister said on his Twitter handle on Monday.
He further noted that the LG had even rejected the advisors appointed by the Delhi government as well as the doorstep delivery of ration scheme.
The lawyers whose appointment in the Delhi government panel was turned down by the LG include Indira Jaising, Colin Gonsalves, June Chaudhary, Rebecca John, Anoop Chaudhary, Anand Grover, Sanjay R. Hegde, Meet Malhotra, Sudhanshu Batra, Ashwini Mata, Anil Sapra, Rajiv Bansal, Rajiv Dutta.
Sources in the government claimed that this step will hamper the ongoing cases against the Delhi government.
The Aam Aadmi Party-led government appointed these lawyers to fight cases on its behalf before the High Court of Delhi and to give the legal opinion.
An order issued last week by the LG's Principal Secretary Vijay Kumar noted, "A panel of senior advocates has been constituted for conducting cases on behalf of the Delhi government before High and for giving the legal opinion. As per the report submitted by the Law Secretary through the Chief Secretary under rule 57 of the Transaction of Business of Government of NCT of Delhi Rules 1993 (TBR) law, the above order has been issued in the material departure from the TBR without obtaining the approval of LG."
"Therefore, the LG has desired that the Chief Secretary may kindly draw the attention of all concerned, including pay and accounts officers
towards the fact that the aforesaid orders have not been validly issued in view of the material infirmities," it further noted.
Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash also marked the copy of the order to pay and account offices of Delhi government for further action, resulting in non-payment to these lawyers.