Big Win For AAP For Governing Delhi
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-05-12 06:13:10
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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The Supreme Court has rightly decided that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi is bound by the aid and advice of the elected state government though its council of ministers and cannot decide on his own about transfer and postings of bureaucrats. It has also rightly decided that the elected state government has power over all services except police, land and public order. This is a major win for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government which has been involved in regular tiffs with the LG and the Centre over powers in appointing or transferring officers and making them report to ministers, among other things. The court categorically stated that "postings within the state cadre as well as joint cadre shall be made by the 'government of the state' that is, by the duly elected government".
Although the issue of governing Delhi is different from all other states because it is the National Capital Region (and that is why services like the police, land and public order are not in its legislative domain), it goes without saying that there is no point in having an elected government in place if that government does not have powers to implement its policies and if the officers do not listen to it. Running the government in Delhi till now was a classic case of responsibility without power and AAP had regularly highlighted this fact. It is a fact that although ministers make policies, they are implemented by departments and departments are run by officers. If the elected government does not have power over officers, it is reduced to nothing.
It goes without saying that the AAP government will now, as it had threatened in the past, carry out wholesale transfers of officers and will be strict in evaluating their work. It has already made a beginning by removing the Services department secretary Ashish More from his post. But the AAP government must also realize that this victory will be a double-edged sword as it will not be able to claim now that the Centre is scuttling its efforts to govern Delhi properly. People will now judge it solely on its performance and it will find it hard to make excuses.
