Deputy CM accuses L-G of interfering with govt's work

New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has written to Lt Governor V K Saxena and accused him of interfering in the day-to-day work of the Delhi government.

Calling it a violation of the Supreme Court orders, the Deputy CM said Saxena was "sidelining" ministers and issuing instructions.

In a letter, Sisodia has asserted that the L-G does not have the power to issue orders directly to bureaucrats and ask for files by bypassing the concerned minister and the Cabinet which is the elected body.

As per Sisodia, he was writing the letter, "In light of certain extremely worrying developments which have been brought to my notice, namely, that your office has of late, in the recent past, resorted to the practice of calling for files from various Departments through their respective Secretaries."

"I am constrained to record that this unwholesome development apart from being contrary to settled tradition and practice pertaining to the transaction of business of the Government, is contrary to the applicable constitutional provisions enshrined in Article 239AA, the extant statutory regime put in place by the GNCTD Act, 1991," Sisodia said.

In the letter Sisodia further mentioned that the L-G can only intervene in the matters of land, public order and police and in the rest of the matters, the elected government of Delhi remains the undisputed authority. He said, "It is the elected Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi which is vested with all legislative and executive decision making authority in respect of the remaining subjects contained in Lists II and III of the VII Schedule which are compendiously referred to as "Transferred Subjects."

The Deputy Chief Minister in his letter has also mentioned the relevant observations of the Supreme Court from the 'State(GNCTD) vs Union of India &Anr' case and said, "I understand that rule 19(5) of TBR, 1993 empowers honorable LT. Governor

to call for the papers relating to any proposal or matter in any department. However,

in view of the legal and constitutional position already mentioned, the Hon'ble Lt. Governor is not vested with any independent decision making authority in respect of any matter."

Amid an ongoing power tussle, the L-G office and the Kejriwal government

have had frequent run-ins over administration and policy-related decisions, including the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.