Governance In Delhi Being Sabotaged Before Election By Officials Themselves

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

A Joint Director of the Department of Woman and Child Development and the Special Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department of the National Capital Territory of Delhi placed public notices in newspapers on December 25, 2024, stating that two state government schemes of their respective departments were“fraudulent”. This is the latest example of sabotaging governance in the state by those who are expected to facilitate the government schemes, and should not have been part of politicking. They had the Centre's protection umbrella against the elected ruling establishment of Delhi.

The public notice relating to Mahila Samman Yojna read,“... a political party is claiming to disburse Rs 2,100 per month under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojna... no such scheme has been notified in Delhi... If and when such a scheme is notified, the Department of Women and Child Development will launch a digital portal for eligible individuals to submit applications... Any private individual/political party collecting such physical forms/applications or collecting information for applicants... is fraudulent and without authority.”

The second public notice, by the special secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department, also calls the promises fraudulent, adding that people have started visiting government hospitals and offices to inquire about the scheme.

Politically speaking, the officials of Delhi are being encouraged to be disobedient by the Modi-led NDA government against the AAP-led state government in Delhi, through various ways, both legal and illegal, chiefly because of political reasons. BJP and AAP are adversaries. Officials going against its own elected government in Delhi is not new, what is new is the disobedience and impudent behaviour of officials, crossing all limits of democratic governance.

The BJP-led Union Government and the AAP-led Delhi Government have been at loggerheads for a decade. AAP has always politically defeated the BJP in Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections. Delhi Vidhan Sabha election is expected to be held in February 2025, and it is in the interest of the BJP to show the ruling AAP in bad light and claim that governance in Delhi has collapsed under AAP leadership.

Who is the real government in Delhi has been a matter of dispute between the Union Government and Delhi Government and the matter had even reached the Supreme Court of India, which decided in favour of restoring federalism, in all respects other than in law & order and land which are under the Union Government.

Nevertheless, the Union Government amended the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act 1991 in 2021 which gave more power to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi by changing the meaning of government in Delhi which meant the LG. The elected government was put under the LG and under the law required to seek LG's opinion before taking any executive action.

Thereafter, the LG's interference in the governance of Delhi became frequent, hampering the functioning of the elected government. Officials became disobedient. The AAP government even told the Supreme Court that officials were not listening to them and they are not even coming for meetings on important issues. The Supreme Court of India criticized the ways of the Union Government and in several cases granted relief to the elected AAP government.

However, the Union Government again in 2023 amended the GNCTD legislation, which is popularly known as Delhi Services Act, to extend the Central Government's control on services and giving powers to the LG over the city's elected government. Administrative officers were directly put under LG's control.

Since LG of Delhi is representative of the Union Government, politically BJP led Central government, the governance in Delhi became victim of politics. LG's many orders in relation to governance came in the way of the governance by the elected AAP government, and it is now an open secret. Even in some cases, Secretaries of departments not only ignored the decisions of the elected government but also the decisions of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. Moreover, every officer of the state government was protected when they acted against their own elected government.

It should be noted that the Centre had brought legal change in Delhi Services Act after a 5 judges constitutional bench ordered that elected government has control over bureaucrats in administration of services, first within 8 days by ordinance in May 2023, and then by a bill in August, which was passed in the Parliament by brute force of majority, and enacted promptly.

The latest example is only an extension of sabotaging administration by the elected government of Delhi. The public notices by officials not only disowned the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojna which aims to give Rs2100 to non-tax paying women, and Sanjeevani Yojna, which aims to provide free treatment to those over the age of 60, but also called“fraudulent”.

Chief Minister of Delhi and AAP leader Atish had to call a press conference to clarify,“The notices issued today in newspapers are completely false. The BJP has put pressure on these officers and issued a false public notice because they are shocked by the public's response. Strict administrative action will be taken against these officers.”

She said that Mahila Samman Yojna was already notified and had Cabinet approval. Under the scheme Rs1000 is to be given as allowance to women. She said that strict action and a Delhi police inquiry will be taken against these officers for issuing such false public notice.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal said,“We know how the BJP conspired to obstruct the work in Delhi through the Lieutenant Governor, bureaucrats, and various schemes. However, we did not allow them to impede our efforts. As a result, they devised a plan and had all of us arrested. The BJP has nothing to showcase for their time in Delhi. Over the past ten years, they have had seven MPs but have failed to demonstrate any accomplishments. They lack a chief ministerial candidate and a clear agenda.”

Kejriwal said that they have announced to increase the allowance to Rs 2100 if they would come to power. Additionally, we have introduced the Sanjeevani Yojna, and asked people to apply for it, and people are coming forward to fill out forms that have threatened the BJP. He even said that the Centre has been harassing AAP leaders in false cases. (IPA Service )

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