'Completely Bizarre, Unconstitutional': Kejriwal Hits Out At LG Saxena After Delhi Mayoral Polls Disrupted Amid Ruckus

Talking about the instance of the nomination of 10 members by the LG, CM Kejriwal said there was a tradition of the nomination of such members, which was even followed by previous LG Anil Baijal.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

Source : PTI

New Delhi: As the Delhi Mayoral elections were stalled by the brawl between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members inside the civic centre on Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of “issuing orders” on every subject, and called it “completely bizarre” that the latter was taking "illegal" and "unconstitutional" decisions on subjects he has "no powers" over.

After the adjournment of the first day of the civic centre, when the oath was to be administered to the newly elected councillors, Kejriwal wrote a letter to LG Saxena.

“Last few weeks have seen some very bizarre developments. Hon’ble LG is directly issuing orders on practically every subject irrespective of whether it is reserved or transferred, irrespective of whether Hon’ble LG has the powers to do that or not. Hon’ble LG issues directions directly to the Chief Secretary who in turn gets them implemented completely bypassing and ignoring the elected govt,” Kejriwal wrote.

“One would ask why are the officers implementing LG’s illegal orders? Because LG has complete control over the bureaucracy. LG has the power to transfer, suspend or take any other action against any employee of the Delhi govt. Unfortunately, the elected govt of Delhi has no control over employees,” he added.

Talking about the instance of the nomination of 10 members by the LG, CM Kejriwal said there was a tradition of the nomination of such members, which was even followed by previous LG Anil Baijal.

“For instance, as per Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 10 members with specialized knowledge could be nominated by the state govt. Till date, for the last many decades, these ten members were always nominated by the elected govt of Delhi,” Kejriwal said.

He said that the present LG “dictated ten names with BJP background and directed the Chief Secretary to issue notification.”

“Chief Secretary complied. The elected government came to know from the newspapers. Since this is a transferred subject, as per the Constitution, it is the elected govt which had the power to nominate these members,” Kejriwal said.

“Likewise, as per Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, one of the councillors is nominated as presiding officer for administering oath to all councillors on the first day and for conducting the election of the Mayor, after which the Mayor takes over. Tradition has been that the seniormost member of the House, irrespective of party affiliations, is nominated by the state govt for this job,” he added.

CM Kejriwal also accused Saxena of rendering the elected government “irrelevant”.

“Control over bureaucracy through “services” is being misused,” he alleged.