For the first time, a ruling party legislator has questioned the powers of the lieutenant-governor through a starred question pertaining to appointment of the Delhi government counsels in the high court.
In a starred question with the Delhi Assembly, which is holding the Winter Session, former law minister and AAP MLA Somnath Bharati has questioned the powers of L-G Najeeb Jung on the appointment of Delhi high court counsels.
An officer of the Delhi Assembly Secretariat said that there is no such rule that prohibit any MLA from raising questions on the L-G’s authority in the House. During the last session, the House had questioned the L-G’s authority pertaining to his powers related to the anti-corruption branch and transfer and posting of senior city administration officers.
But the official said that this was perhaps the first occasion that a ruling party MLA had challenged the L-G’s authority through a starred question. In the past, the House had never ever passed any resolution criticising the L-G. A local politician said Mr Bharati’s move was a political gimmick to settle his personal score with the L-G, with whom he had an argument in a recent Board meeting of the DDA.
A highly-placed source said that the L-G has not given his approval to the Delhi government notification hiking fee of the state government counsels in the high court. The notification has been reportedly awaiting approval from the L-G for the past one month.
Earlier, the Cabinet had decided to hike pay scales of prosecuting officers working under the directorate of prosecution of the Delhi government. As per the revised scale, the pay scale of the assistant public prosecutors will be Rs 15,600-39,100 as against existing Rs 9300-34,800. The pay scale of director (prosecution) has been hiked to Rs 37,000-67,000 from Rs 15,600-39,100. Even the pay scales of additional public prosecutors and chief prosecutors have also been hiked.
