Government takes U-turn on approval issue by Lieutenant-Governor

Taking a complete U-turn on its hardened stand of not seeking lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung’s prior approval for tabling legislations in the Delhi Assembly, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has reportedly directed law and finance departments to resubmit such proposals to Raj Niwas for prior approval in accordance with the decision of the city Cabinet. For early passage of legislations, Mr Sisodia has also directed his heads of departments to follow up with the Centre over the status of legislations passed by the Assembly till now.

Recently, Mr Jung had returned back two more bills to the Delhi government. The proposed legislations related to the Delhi (Right to Citizen to Time-Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology Bill.

The bill on the time-bound delivery of services was passed by the Assembly in June and the NSIT Bill was passed five months later. In all, the Delhi Assembly had passed 17 bills last year without seeking prior approval of the lieutenant-governor. After getting the bills passed, the AAP government had sent the bills to Mr Jung, who in turn had forwarded them to President Pranab Mukherjee. After the President’s notings, Raj Niwas returned nine bills on the ground that they had been passed without following the set legislative procedures.

The Raj Niwas has reportedly returned the NSIT Bill on the ground that the definition of the Delhi government had been changed in it. In this particular bill, the AAP government had mentioned that the government means the Delhi government while in other bills it had stated that the government meant lieutenant-governor.

The Delhi Institute of Technology whose name was changed to Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology on February 13, 1997. Established in 1983 by the then Delhi administration as the Delhi Institute of Technology, it was granted administrative autonomy in 1986 to manage the affairs of the institute effectively. The ultimate goal was to convert it into a varsity.

As far as the Delhi (Right Of Citizen To Time-Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill is concerned, its main aim is to make government officials liable to automatic deductions from their salaries in case of delayed delivery of services to average Delhiites.