Delhi: DyCM Sisodia urges L-G Anil Baijal to 'not chair meetings' on AAP govt's matters

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on July 17 wrote to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal urging him 'to stop taking decisions on matters under elected government'. Sisodia's letter to the Delhi L-G comes after the latter chaired meetings with government officials on matters allegedly outside his scope of work, and are reportedly under the ambit of AAP government.

Writing to L-G Anil Baijal on July 17, Delhi DyCM Manish Sisodia called upon the former to 'stop calling a meeting of officials on such matters and giving them directions'

Manish Sisodia writes to Anil Baijal 

In his letter, Sisodia alleged that the meetings chaired by the Delhi L-G and the decisions taken in those meetings were not only unconstitutional but also were in violation of orders of the Supreme Court. Sidelining the elected government and calling meetings of officials,and taking decisions in them is "a murder of democracy." "Whatever the political pressures are on you, please do as L-G that which will further strengthen the democracy,", he wrote. The letter by Sisodia said that for about the last 3 months, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has been calling key officers of various departments of the Delhi government in his office, and holding a meeting with them. He was also allegedly giving guidelines regarding the work related to their departments. Sisodia said that if the Governors or the Lieutenant Governors appointed by the Central Government start taking decisions on all the subjects by ignoring elected governments, the democracy in the country will come to an end. He went on to write,

"You are also giving directions to the concerned officers by calling the concerned officers in your meeting without informing the ministers about the works coming under the purview of the elected government of Delhi. Later the officers of the Lieutenant Governor's office put constant pressure on the officials of the government to implement those decisions."

'Stop calling officers' meetings'

Sisodia further noted how the constitution only provided for decisions concerning land, police and public order to be taken by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, and referred to the SC judgement of 2018. The judgement stated that the Lieutenant Governor "does not have a right to take an independent decision" and mentioned that the constitution provides only two rights to the Lieutenant Governor - either to agree with the decision of the elected government or to send his disagreement to the President: "Nowhere in the Constitution has the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi been empowered to convene a direct meeting of the officers of the departments concerned, take decisions and issue directions to them on the subjects under the elected government of Delhi. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP leader addressed Baijal and said:

"I would like to request that you stop the decision-making activities in the subjects which come under the elected government of Delhi. Stop calling officers' meetings on these subjects and giving them instructions. These meetings of yours and the decisions taken in them are not only unconstitutional but also a violation of the order of the Supreme Court,"

Rift between AAP and Delhi L-G 

An ongoing power struggle has been noticed between the AAP and Baijal. Earlier this month, AAP had also reportedly alleged that the lieutenant governor wants to remove public prosecutors appointed by the Delhi government and bring special public prosecutors on the behest of the Delhi police in cases related to farmers' stir to ensure conviction and to set an example. These allegations came out about 2 months after the Centre amended the Delhi GNCT Act, and sent a notification saying that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal would be the 'government' in the Union Territory from April 27. Baijal is an IAS officer from the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre. He has served as Union Home Secretary under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as well. Baijal has also served as an advisor, on National e-Governance Advisory Group (NAG); Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal, and Renewable Energy; Committee on implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility with the current government. 

(IMAGE: PTI)