In 1991, Union Cabinet excluded from purview of proposed Delhi
Assembly powers to legislate on police
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal’s demand that the Delhi government and not the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) should be in charge of the Delhi Police, will require legislative
action by Parliament.
“The Parliament would
need to pass an amendment Bill if Delhi Police is to be put under the charge of
the state government. This can’t be done through an executive order,” an MHA
official said.
Because, the
Constitution (69th Amendment Bill), introduced in Parliament by then Union Home
Minister SB Chavan in December 1991, granted only partial statehood to Delhi.
Entries 1, 2 and 18 of the State List of Seventh Schedule, which deal with
public order, police and land, continued to be under the Central government.
Not only this, the
State of Delhi Bill, 2003 — introduced in the Lok Sabha by then Deputy Prime
Minister L K Advani — which proposed full statehood to the National Capital
Territory of Delhi through an amendment to the Constitution, also proposed to
keep police and public order under the purview of the Centre. The Bill lapsed
when the term of the Lok Sabha ended.
According to official
documents accessed by Newsline, the Union Cabinet, in December 1991, decided to
“reorganise” Delhi to cater to “the persistent demand from political parties
and the citizens of Delhi for a representative form of government”. At the
time, the Cabinet “expressly excluded” from the purview of the proposed Delhi
Assembly powers to legislate on issues concerning law and order, police and
land.
According to the
Cabinet note dated December 9, 1991, signed by then Union Home Secretary Madhav
Godbole, the decision to keep Delhi’s status as a Union Territory (UT) but with
a legislature of its own was taken on the recommendations of the S Balakrishnan
Committee.
The committee, formed
in December 1987, was asked to “go into various issues connected with the
administration of the UT of Delhi”.
In its two-part
report, the Balakrishnan panel suggested three options for Delhi — full
statehood, partial statehood but with an Assembly and, lastly, UT status but
with special Constitutional status.
On May 29, 1990, the Union Cabinet decided to amend the
Constitution to grant “statehood” to Delhi and a Bill was introduced in the Lok
Sabha on May 31, 1990. However, the Bill lapsed on the dissolution of the
House. The issue was then discussed by the Cabinet Committee on Police Affairs
on December 3, 1991, which recommended continuation of UT status with a
legislative Assembly and council of ministers “subject to the overall control
by the Union and certain safeguards….”
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