New Delhi: After passing the Rajya Sabha on Monday night, just four days after being passed by the Lok Sabha, the divisive National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) for the year 2023, which replaces the ordinance governing the control of services in the Capital and grants the Lt Governor and bureaucrats extensive powers, received the nod from Parliament.
The bill received 131 yes votes and 102 no votes; the BJD and YSRCP, each with 9 MPs, supported the ruling coalition, while the opposition received less votes than they had hoped.
The opposition INDIA coalition mobilized all of its resources, bringing the former prime minister Manmohan Singh to the House in a wheelchair and making sure the ill Shibu Soren was present for the vote. But it was unable to stop the Bill’s passage.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the opposition after an eight-hour debate that featured bitter and combative exchanges between the Treasury benches and the Opposition benches. He claimed that the Bill does not in any way violate the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Bill repealed the ordinance that had been put into effect following the Supreme Court’s decision that Delhi’s elected government was in charge of providing services. The Supreme Court sent the AAP government’s appeal to a Constitution Bench after the AAP administration contested the ordinance’s constitutionality.
Attacking the Congress and AAP hard, Shah stated, “We have not brought this Bill to safeguard the membership of a Prime Minister… P Chidambaram and Abhishek Manu Singhvi led the Congress effort while the AAP fielded Raghav Chadha. The Constitution has not been altered in order to declare an emergency. The Congress is not authorized to discuss democracy. During the Emergency, more than 3 lakh political workers were imprisoned. Censorship applied to all newspapers The Indian Express was forced to keep its editorial page empty as the Congress discussed democracy. He claimed that the Delhi government had put obstacles in the way of the NCT’s progress.
Shah defended the Bill by claiming that the Opposition has claimed that officials now have the authority to prepare Cabinet notes. I’ve had positions in two governments. The Cabinet note was sent by the officers. I haven’t yet put my signature on any Cabinet notes. I’ve signed documents, he declared.
According to him, the provisions of the Bill were included in the Congress-enacted Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993.
“Those have been included to the Bill. Nothing fresh has been brought by us. Because the Delhi administration disobeys the law, restrictions have been incorporated into the bill, he claimed.
He claimed that the AAP administration started moving officers and ordered Joint Director-level personnel to directly report to the Minister, forcing the Centre to create an ordinance.
