Rajya Sabha clears Delhi Services Bill with 131 votes in favour, 102 against

The controversial Delhi Services Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha late on Monday night despite bitter resistance by the Opposition, following an exhaustive and bitter debate.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed by 131 to 102 votes, with support from Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSR Congress. The bill is aimed at replacing the ordinance on transfers and postings of senior officers in the Delhi government.

The bill has already been passed by Lok Sabha.

Initiating a discussion on the bill, which was moved by Home Minister Amit Shah for consideration in Rajya Sabha, Singhvi said no government in the past had ever tried to overrule the status of the Delhi government and accused the current dispensation of being a “control freak”.

Terming the bill as “unconstitutional” and “anti-democratic” and appealed to all opposition parties in Rajya Sabha to oppose it with the warning that “someday this anti-federal knock will come” at their door too.

He accused the government of bringing the bill out of “vendetta” and said it was against two verdicts of the Supreme Court Constitution bench.

“This bill is completely unconstitutional. It is fundamentally anti-democratic. It is a frontal assault on the regional voice and the regional aspirations of the people of Delhi. It violates all principles of federalism, all norms of civil service accountability, all models of assembly based democracy. It violates the basic structure,” he asserted.

He said that no government since 1992, when Delhi’s special constitutional status was created, tried to overrule two judgments of the Supreme Court constitution bench on the status of National Capital Territory.

“This government and this bill have done it all, something not done earlier,” he said, adding such a step has now been taken because of the “control freak” nature of the government whose “visiting card appears to be vendetta, whose identity badge is of a graceless and fuming electoral loser….”

He said the approach of the government is “to control by hook or crook, usually more by crook and less by hook”.

Singhvi criticised the provisions of the bill which he said seeks the “creation of an authority where the chief minister is in a minority, to empower two bureaucrats to overrule an elected chief minister and make the LG, a constitutional figurehead except in three areas, into a ‘Super CM’ and give powers to the LG to appoint heads of large number of regulatory agencies”.

Stating that this is not about any particular government in the NCT, he said, “It is the deliberate regression from a people’s government guaranteed to the people of Delhi 30 years ago. And hence it is a decimation of the most fundamental constitutional values….”
Asking all parties to collectively rise to oppose the bill, he said, “Someday this anti-federal knock will come at your door.”

This is a matter to ponder for those who are supporting this bill, he said, adding “what is happening with the Delhi government today could happen to you soon”.

Singhvi made an apparent reference to the Nazi rule and warned those who are supporting or have announced support to the bill by quoting Martin Niemöller, “First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I am not a Jew. Then they came for me and for you, and there was not one left to speak for us (sic).”

The Aam Aadmi Party also opposed the bill. Senior party leader Raghav Chadha said it is an insult to the constitution and the judgment of the Supreme Court. “It is intended to give all power to Delhi Lieutenant Governor,” he said.

Chadha said it was BJP and its veteran leaders including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani who had talked about giving full statehood to Delhi but now the same BJP is snatching the power of the Delhi government.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy of TMC, K. Keshav Rao of BRS, Aneel Hegde of JD(U), Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya of CPI(M) and Manoj Jha of RJD also spoke against the Bill while BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi supported it. Another party member Radha Mohan Das also raised the issue of alleged corruption and inefficiency of the Delhi Government. V. Vijaisai Reddy of YSRC and Sasmit Patra of BJD also supported the bill.

Trivedi said that it was a much-needed bill because of the attempts by the AAP government in Delhi to threaten the bureaucracy and cover up the alleged corruption.

In May, the Centre had promulgated the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, which effectively nullified a Supreme Court judgment that handed over control of “services” in the NCT administration to the Delhi government.

Earlier, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had issued whips to their MPs asking them to be present in the Upper House till its adjournment.

With inputs from agencies.