New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today returned to the Delhi government 14 bills passed by the Delhi Assembly saying proper procedures were not followed by the AAP government while adopting the legislations.
A senior Home ministry official said since Delhi is a Union Territory, any bill it wants to adopt in the Assembly has to be first sent to the central government for approval. If the nod is given, only then can it be moved for legislative approval. Once the assembly passes a bill, it needs to go to the Lieutenant Governor and again to the central government for Presidential assent.
The returned bills include the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill 2015 which the AAP had described as the "strongest” anti-corruption legislation in the country.
The development has understandably left Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal fuming. Kejriwal once again stepped up his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Centre returned bills passed by the Delhi Assembly.
"Modi's slogan -- Na kaam karoonga, na karne doonga (Neither will I work, nor will I let others work)," Kejriwal tweeted.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the central government had no intention of clearing the bills. "They are interfering in everything."
"Should the central government have the right to block every work done by the Delhi government? Is the Centre the headmaster of the Delhi government?" he asked.
The latest development came weeks after President Pranab Mukherjee refused assent to a legislation that sought to protect 21 AAP MLAs, who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, from disqualification for holding office of profit.
