Centre’s control over capital’s bureaucrats complete, Delhi Services Act gets Prez Murmu’s nod

New Delhi: The contentious Delhi Services Act on Saturday, turned into a law after formal approval from President Droupadi Murmu. The newly legislated law will now replace the controversial Ordinance that was brought by the Centre to regulate control of posting & transfer of bureaucrats in the national capital.

The new law not just settles the battle between Delhi govt & Centre over ‘who is the boss’ but also clearly differentiates between the powers & limitations of Kejriwal-led AAP government & Lieutenant General (LT).

Earlier, the Delhi Services Act was passed in both Houses of Parliament with ease as the Centre mustered enough numbers for easy passage of the bill. BJP on back of its absolute majority in Lok Sabha got the bill cleared on August 1, with a huge margin though there were sharp exchanges between the ruling party & Opposition over it. In Rajya Sabha, the BJP got support of BRS and YSR Congress and got the bill cleared by Upper House despite not having majority on August 7. About 131 members voted in favour of the Act replacing the Delhi Ordinance while the Opposition could cobble together just 102 in the House, whose number strength stood at 237.

The Opposition block and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in particular had gone ballistic against the government and accusing the subverting the democratic principles and bulldozing the constitutional practices, on back of its numbers in the house. They claimed that the ruling dispensation was behaving as ‘arrogant autocrat’ and was bent on destroying the whole democratic fabric of the country.

The Delhi Services Act will now replace the Ordinance that was promulgated by the Centre on May 19, for controlling the services and postings & transfers of officers in the national capital.

The Centre brought the ordinance, days after Supreme Court gave Kejriwal government the upper hand in administration & control of civil servants, saying that elected government ‘deserved to have the final say’ in such matters.