HC to hear plea on LG's power to refer bills to centre

The Delhi High Court Friday decided to hear Feb 18 a plea seeking to declare as unconstitutional the law which gives the lt governor the power to refer certain bills to the central government before it is tabled in the assembly.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul asked the Delhi government to submit a copy of the Jan Lokpal bill by the next date of hearing, adding that at the moment it was not clear whether the bill has been introduced or not.

The bill was not introduced in the assembly despite the Arvind Kejriwal government's best efforts as a motion to introduce its tabling was defeated with 42 votes against and only 27 for in the 70-member Delhi assembly. Kejriwal later announced his resignation.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by advocate R.K. Kapoor who sought directions to declare as unconstitutional the Rule 55 of the Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules.

Rule 55 requires the LG to refer to the central government certain legislative proposals, including financial bills, before they are introduced in the Assembly.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra told the court that the Jan Lokpal bill was a financial bill and required LG's nod before it was tabled in the assembly.

"The bill involves expenditure from the consolidated funds of India. You will have to create infrastructure, employment that ultimately have to be drawn from the consolidated funds of the capital," Mehra told the court.

However, Kapoor submitted that the said provision was against the constitution and beyond the scope of the provisions of the GNCTD Act.