Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Sunday said that the Delhi services act is against the basic spirit of the constitution and hoped that the Supreme Court will overturn it. "Many times it has happened that the government passed a law against the basic spirit of the Constitution and the Supreme Court overturned it,” said the Aam Aadmi Party leader. “I believe that this law (Delhi Services Act) is also against the basic spirit of the Constitution,” he said while speaking to news agency ANI.
Bhardwaj said that the Lieutenant Governor appointed “from above” cannot run the government as it is run by the people through elected representatives.
“The Constitution says that the government will be run by the people, through elected representatives. In such a situation, a Lieutenant Governor appointed from above cannot run the government. It's not possible. When this matter comes to court, the court will overturn this law and implement the Constitution,” he said.
“Till then there will be chaos. The LG will run the government arbitrarily and will stop the work of the public...It would be unfortunate for Delhi," he added.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Monday amid heavy uproar by the Opposition against the proposed bill. The act gives the Centre control over bureaucracy in the national capital, with the BJP-led NDA thwarting opposition challenges in the keenly-watched numbers game.
The law replaced the ordinance that was brought by the Centre on May 19 to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi.
The ordinance, and later the bill became bone of contention between the BJP-led Centre and Kejriwal’s Delhi dispensation. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met with leaders of Opposition parties including Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and others to seek their support against the bill.