While some say it is a move in the right direction, others feel it would lead to confrontation between elected representatives rendered powerless in one stroke and an unelected appointee chosen by the Central government.
After the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification on Wednesday stating that the provisions of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 would be deemed to have come into effect from April 27, Today News 24 spoke to former bureaucrats on the development.
The bureaucrats, who served in various capacities over careers spanning decades as part of Delhi’s administration, expressed opinions ranging from it being a move in the right direction given the current challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to questioning its timing due to its inherent potential to trigger a confrontation between elected representatives rendered powerless in one stroke and an unelected appointee chosen by the Central government.
The Act gives the Lieutenant-Governor more teeth compared to the Chief Minister in administering the city.
The notification came a day after the Delhi High Court cautioned the Delhi government to put its “house in order” over the issue of inadequate oxygen supply in the city amidst raging COVID-19 cases. It had added that the Centre could be asked to take over from the Delhi government if it believed it could not manage the situation created by the pandemic at hand.
Rakesh Mehta, who served as Chief Secretary between 2007 and 2011, said the notification was necessary given what he termed the “paralysis of governance” that the Capital was suffering from.
“The Delhi government seems to have cooked its own goose when it comes to administering the city effectively especially in the middle of this (COVID-19) pandemic,” he said.
“It seems that the decision to notify the amended Act was taken by a Central government irked at the Delhi government’s attempts to hide its failures in relation to ensuring adequate oxygen supply and broadly managing the coronavirus situation in the city,” he also said.
The Act defines the responsibilities of the elected government and the L-G along the “constitutional scheme of governance of the NCT” interpreted by the Supreme Court in recent judgements regarding the division of powers between the two entities.
It also seeks to ensure that the L-G is “necessarily granted an opportunity” to exercise powers entrusted to him under proviso to clause (4) of article 239AA of the Constitution.
Shailaja Chandra, the city’s first woman Chief Secretary who retired in 2004, said, “For now, if L-G can ensure sustained oxygen supply, reduce trauma of admitting patients into ICUs and manage funerals humanely, citizens will be thankful. In the long run however, public representation through political voice will become indispensable.”
According to G.K. Marwah, who retired as Divisional Commissioner of Delhi in 2006, the primacy of the L-G had been consistent with the existence of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, which has been amended to give way to its 2021 avatar 30 years later.
“This Act was absolutely unwarranted and, in my opinion, will not help the democratic process in the country. The significance of the role of the LG was there all along; the present amendment will give way to confrontation between the two entities,” he said.
“There will certainly be issues when elected representatives, suddenly converted to non-entities, are pushed to a wall. What other approach is left to them,” he asked.
P.K. Tripathi, who served as Chief Secretary between 2011 and 2012, said that while the Delhi government seemed to have brought the notification of the Act upon itself due to the “way it had been functioning so far”, confrontation was not the answer when it came to Delhi’s administration.
“If we talk about legendary Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, her best years, in my opinion, were when there was a Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and she was in power in Delhi. Governance was done on the basis of mutual cooperation and respect between both entities,” he said.
“However, all said and done, no matter how powerful the L-G is, the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi deserves more powers whether formally or informally. This city works, and depends, on cooperation,” he also said.