New Delhi: The Jan Lokpal Bill, which has been passed by the government of Arvind Kejriwal, will have to send to the Centre for legal vetting as the mandatory exercise.
The officials of Union Ministry had said that all bills have to be sent to the central government for legal vetting, irrespective of whether they have any financial implication or not.
Officials said while dismissing the suggestion that only financial bill need legal vetting and the Delhi Assembly had sent the Gurudwara Administration Amendment bill to the Home Ministry despite the fact that it has no financial implications.
Officials said that the Gurudwara Bill is still pending with the Home Ministry as government was not keen to take a view on the matter as general elections are approaching.
They said that the Lokpal Bill enacted by Parliament is already in place and the Delhi government’s Jan Lokpal Bill will be directly in conflict with it.
An official claimed, “No bill enacted by a state can be in conflict with the already existing central law.”
The Home Ministry will refer the bill to the Law Ministry if the Bill is sent. Bill would be forwarded to the President after the Law Ministry’s vetting.
The official said, “Each state can’t have a different law because if that happens, there would be serious consequences.”
They said the LG had to send the Delhi government’s reference to the Solicitor General because the state government does not have their independent legal wing and it had nothing to do with the central government. Kejriwal told Jung that he knew that there was a “lot of pressure” on him from Congress and the Home Ministry on the issue of Jan Lokapal bill and it would go up in the coming days to prevent the holding of an assembly session in a public venue for enactment of the bill.
He also said that pressure would be mounted on him to ensure that the bill is not tabled in the assembly because “they know that if the bill is passed, then many among them will go to jail.”
Kejriwal said, “They (Congress), through your office, would resort to selective leaks to defame me and my government.”
Kejriwal said on the view of Parasaran that it was necessary to get approval from the Centre before tabling the Bill in assembly and nowhere in the Constitution is it written that the Centre’s consent was required except on three issues which he did not elaborate.
He also did not accept the view that the Jan Lokpal would be repugnant to the central law the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act saying if there was any such defect the law enacted by the assembly would anyhow go to the President for approval.
Kejriwal had described order of Home Ministry as “unconstitutional” that says that Delhi government has to take permission from the Centre before enacting any law.
He questioned, “If the Delhi government has to take Centre’s prior permission before enactment of any law then what was the need to hold elections.”
Bureau Report
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