Legislature neglected, executive strengthened!

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, August 29

Legislative process has taken a backseat in Delhi following the Delhi government’s continued approach in strengthening the executive at the cost of the legislature.

Experts say that due to this policy, the government now calls as few sittings as possible. This means that the issues concerning the public hardly get debated. Citing the latest example, an official of the Vidhan Sabha said that the Delhi Cabinet has not yet taken a decision to convene the Monsoon session of the Assembly.

At least 15 day’s notice is mandatory before convening the session of the assembly. The Cabinet has not yet passed the note. However, it is believed that the Monsoon session of the Assembly would commence from September 22 and end on September 26. As there are two holidays in between, there would only be three working days in the entire session. This is the shortest Monsoon session since the Delhi Assembly came into being following the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991.

Speaker of the Assembly Chaudhary Prem Singh has repeatedly said that the assembly should sit for at least 50 days in a year. However, a Speaker can only voice his concern but cannot force the government to convene a session. In a recent conference of the Chief Whip’s of various states, it was suggested that for small assemblies, like Delhi, the total sittings should be of 50 days in a year. Ironically, this has never been followed in Delhi since the state came into being after the 69th Amendment Act of the Constitution.

Last year (2004), the assembly was in session for only 19 days, the Budget session being the longest of 12 days. It was only the first Assembly, constituted in 1993 which saw the maximum working days – 130. The second assembly, constituted in 1998 had only 106 working days. The third or the present assembly seems to be going worse with only 35 working days in the last around two years.

Though the Congress legislators too are worried at this trend, they have hardly demanded more sessions. The BJP, however, wants more sittings so that the issues of Delhi are discussed threadbare and the approval of the legislature is taken before policy decisions. Delhi BJP President Harsh Vardhan had demanded a special one-day session of the Assembly to discuss the issue of power. (2005)

CAG indictment of govt rocks Delhi Assembly

Amitabh Shukla

April 24

The severe indictment of the Delhi government in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) rocked the Delhi Assembly on Monday. The opposition leveled charges of corruption and inefficiency against the government and demanded its dismissal.

As soon as the Question Hour began, Leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi brought an adjournment motion seeking to suspend all business of the House to discuss the report. He referred to the last report of the CAG on power privatisation in which the government body had found severe irregularities in the entire process. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Delhi Assembly too had favoured a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities. "Why wasn't a CBI inquiry ordered into the deal?" asked Mukhi.

Delhi BJP President Harsh Vardhan said such a shameful episode had never taken place in Delhi when the CAG found severe lapses and still the government failed to act on it.

As the Opposition members were shouting hoarse on the issue, Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh refused to permit the adjournment motion.

The real drama then started. Shouting slogans against the government, the BJP MLAs jumped into the Well of the House, one at a time. First it was Jai Bhagwan. The Speaker summoned the Marshals who moved him out of the House.

Soon Karan Singh Tanwar jumped into the Well and reached the Speaker's chair and began arguing. He too was physically removed. "The government has to reply why no action was taken in the last one year," said Mukhi. He too was removed. BJP Chief Whip SS Chauhan flashed the copies of the CAG report and said "these are the black deeds of this government". After his removal, it was the turn of HS Balli, Ramesh Bidhuri and Vijay Jolly. "The government has no moral authority to continue in office after the indictment by CAG and inaction on last year's report," said Jolly.

Asked about the CAG report in a press conference after the session, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said an Action Taken Report would be submitted to the Assembly later. But why was the government shying from handing over the probe to the CBI? "We have given our reply to the PAC," said Dikshit without elaborating further.

(2007)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/218150.aspx

Walia presents populist budget

Amitabh Shukla

March 24

The fifth consecutive budget of Delhi Finance Minister AK Walia had only elections in mind. Motivated by the populist budget of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Walia has given several concessions and subsidies and refrained from imposing any tax in an election year.

“In the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime, there is a limit on our flexibility as far as taxation is concerned,” said Walia after presenting his Budget in the Delhi Assembly on Monday. He said Delhi’s economy was robust, the tax collections and compliance have increased tremendously and, therefore, the government has focused on the needs of the common man.

“This is a Budget with a human face,” the minister said. “It is the responsibility of the government to take care of the needs of those who cannot take care of themselves,” he added.

As numbers are important in an election year, the Budget has proposed to benefit 7.2 lakh people directly. Around 5.2 lakh people will benefit from the Rs 2,539 crore waiver on unrecoverable power dues while another 2 lakh widows and senior citizens will benefit from the increased monthly pension of Rs 1,000 from Rs 600 a month. As reported by the Hindustan Times earlier, the concessions have been largely in the social welfare and education front.

The opposition BJP, which did not allow Walia to make his speech and disturbed him throughout, said the Budget did not tackle galloping prices, lacked vision and had nothing much to improve the infrastructure of Delhi.

“Around 23 lakh people are living below poverty line, the Budget is silent on them,” said Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan. He alleged the government failed to fulfill the promises made in the last Budget. Leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi too came down heavily and described the Budget as “a bundle of lies and unfulfilled promises”.

Walia claimed said the price trend of essential items in Delhi was under constant watch. “The rate of inflation as per the Consumer Price Index for Industrial workers in Delhi during 2007 was only 4.9 per cent as compared to 9.1 per cent in Kolkata and 6.3 per cent in Mumbai,” Walia said.

Highlighting the importance of fiscal management, the minister said the revenue surplus of Delhi was Rs 4,438 crore in 2006-07 while all states taken together and the government of India had revenue deficits of 0.15 percent of GDP and 1.09 percent of the GDP.

“Without adding any tax burden on the people of Delhi in the recent past, we have been able to maintain the tempo of developmental activities and move forward in every sphere,” Walia added.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/Walia-presents-populist-budget/Article1-284226.aspx

(2008)

MLAs play truant, House adjourns without any business

Amitabh Shukla

The one job that the MLAs are entrusted with, when elected and sent to the Assembly, is to be the voice of the people on the floor of the House.
Interestingly, the MLAs of Delhi created a dubious history on Tuesday when most of them did not turn up at the Assembly. The House was adjourned for the day without even a single question being asked or discussed.

“This is unprecedented. I have not seen the Assembly being adjourned without conducting any business on a given day due to absence of quorum in the last 14 years,” state BJP President Harsh Vardhan told the Hindustan Times.

Chief Minister and Leader of the House Sheila Dikshit agreed. She, however, blamed the BJP for not coming to the House that led to the adjournment. Asked if it was not the responsibility of the Treasury Benches to ensure smooth conduct of business, she said the MLAs might be busy somewhere.

When the session began at 2 pm, a headcount of the MLAs showed that only 17 were present - 15 from the Congress, one from the BJP and one from the NCP. The secretary of the Assembly announced a break of 10 minutes. When the bell rang again, the BJP member walked out while a few Congress MLAs came in. The headcount showed 22 MLAs, two short of the minimum of 24 required for the quorum to start the proceedings of the House. As per the rules, the House was adjourned for the day.

“I called the chief whip of the BJP and the Congress seeking their cooperation to start the proceedings. They could not rope in their MLAs. This is unfortunate,” said Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh.

Leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi said the BJP did not attend the House “deliberately”. “Our members were expelled for three days and were supposed to attend today. We wanted to expose the Congress and prove that they do not take the Assembly seriously,” he said.

Congress MLAs blamed the entire floor management strategy of the party for the fiasco and loss of face. “Even as the crucial Budget session was to be held, there was no meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) to decide on floor strategy,” said a three-time Congress MLA. Another MLA said the chief whip of their party had prepared a “roster” wherein some of the MLAs were to attend the session from 2 pm to 4 pm while some were supposed to attend the session after 4 pm.

“This is ridiculous. How can a roster be prepared for a day's session which does not last even four hours on any given day,” said another Congress MLA.

Several Congress MLAs went to a huddle soon after the adjournment so that the unfortunate incident is not repeated for the next three days of the Budget session of the Assembly.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/295127.aspx

Amitabh Shukla, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, April 02, 2008
First Published: 00:50 IST(2/4/2008)
Last Updated: 03:21 IST(2/4/2008)