The AAP government today cited an old Chidambaram letter to counter Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and said that, according to the letter, the Lt Governor was “bound” to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
Chidambaram, in the letter dated January 31, 2011, had cited the then-Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati in clarifying the Delhi Government’s queries on whether it had the right to fix circle rates.
In the letter to Dikshit, the then-Home Minister quoting the Attorney General’s views said that the government as per provision of the “Indian Stamp Act, 1899 and the Rule 4 of the Delhi Stamp (Prevention of Undervaluation of Instruments) Rules, 2007, read with the provisions of Entry 63 of List II of the seventh schedule of the Constitution” meant government of NCT of Delhi.
The letter came in response to the Dikshit government’s queries about whether it has powers to fix circle rates in the city.
Hence the Government of Delhi has the right to fix the minimum rates and Lt governor is bound to act on the aid and advice of the government of Delhi (council of Ministers in this regard). The LG is being advised accordingly in this matter.
— Excerpts from the Letter
Amid his confrontation with the AAP government on the appointment of DCW chief Swati Maliwal, Jung, in a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Tuesday referred to a Home Ministry order of 2002 to assert that “government in Delhi meant the LG”.
Kejriwal had yesterday slammed Jung for his assertion that he was the ‘Government in Delhi’, saying it will result in dictatorship and that his stand was not only unconstitutional but “laughable” in a democratic country.
The LG clarified his position on the issue in a letter to the Chief Minister today, saying Kejriwal misunderstood him.
Jung said it was never been his intent to “negate the position of the Chief Minister or the authority of the elected government”.
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