Notification will remove confusion, help AAP run Delhi well: Centre

The Centre today said the Home Ministry's notification on allocation of powers in Delhi would "remove" all confusion regarding governance in the national capital and help the AAP government run the city efficiently.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also made it clear that the row over distribution of powers in Delhi was not a political issue but a constitutional one.

"The circular issued by the Home Ministry is a clarificatory note... We do not want that due to confusion offices get locked," he said at a press conference.

In a gazette notification issued today, the Union Home Ministry said the LG will have jurisdiction over matters connected with services, public order, police and land and he may consult with the Chief Minister whenever he thinks necessary in issues of services using his own "discretion".

It came against the backdrop of the appointment of senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary by LG last week which triggered a full-blown war between the ruling AAP and the Lt Governor.

Kejriwal had also sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter even as he accused the Centre of using LG Najeeb Jung to run Delhi.

"The administrative structure of Delhi according to the Constitution, Article 239 AA, has been made in such a way that there are many powers which are with the elected government of Delhi... So the elected government in Delhi has a large number of powers. There are some powers which are reserved with the central government and that provisions too are clearly written in the Constitution," Jaitley said.

The gazette notification said the Union Territory cadre consisting of IAS, IPS service personnel is common to Union Territories of Delhi, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry and states of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram which is administered by the central government through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Similarly, DANICS and DANIPS officers are common services calling to the requirement of the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Lakshadweep and NCT of Delhi which is also administered by the central government through the Ministry of Home Affairs.