Law officer stripped of power to vet bills

In what is presumed to be a direct attempt to gag the city’s law department from giving free and fair opinion on contentious issues, the AAP government has stripped its senior judicial officer of powers to vet Cabinet notes and bills.

In a signed order, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has taken away the powers to vet Cabinet notes and bills from additional secretary and senior judicial officer Vikrant Vaid. The deputy chief minister has, instead, entrusted the job of vetting the Cabinet notes and bills to his secretary and Danics officer C. Arvind. The officer has also been tasked with the job of administration branch.

Mr Vaid, who till recently, had been responsible for vetting the Cabinet notes and bills has been tasked with the job of judicial branch and filing of appeals in city courts.

The deputy chief minister has also empowered another Danics officer, Mr Ravi Dadhich, who is also secretary to transport minister Gopal Rai, with the job of handling litigation branch, with respect to giving his opinion and vetting notifications and other rules.

The AAP government’s move to take away the powers of vetting the Cabinet notes and bills from the city’s top judicial officer and give the same to the non-judicial officers of the Danics cadre is being interpreted in the bureaucratic and political circles as an attempt to gag the law officers from giving free and fair opinion on several contentious issues.

In the recent past, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal reportedly expressed his anger over the way the principal secretary for law had suggested that several key proposals and bills should be cleared only after getting prior approval of the Centre. Despite the law secretary’s opinion, the AAP government had gone ahead with passing key Cabinet decisions and tabling of several bills in the Assembly without seeking the Centre’s permission.

Among the issues where the law secretary had categorically differed with the government were the proposal for revising the circle rates, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 1973, Delhi Janlokpal Bill and bills related to the education sector. Rules clearly state that any bill having financial implications could be tabled in the Assembly only after getting prior approval of the Centre.

But the AAP government had gone ahead with its agenda of tabling the bills before the Assembly even getting them cleared either by the Centre or lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung. Earlier, the AAP government had entered into a direct confrontation with the lieutenant-governor over the transfers and postings of several senior bureaucrats. Mr Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia had even raised these issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

Mr Kejriwal had even accused the PMO of interference in the day-to-day functioning of the Delhi government. He also had accused the Prime Minister of indirectly running the Delhi government.

The AAP government had also stopped funds to the BJP-run three municipal corporations. Only after the Centre’s intervention, these funds were released to the cash-starved municipal bodies.