The Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, on Friday accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of “usurping the powers of the Lieutenant-Governor” by calling one session of the Assembly in parts.
What the Act says
The practice, alleged Mr. Gupta, was “virtually denying the L-G his right” to summon the Assembly even as a four-day session, beginning August 8, was termed “a cunning device” of the Kejriwal government to “bypass the L-G once again” by the LOP.
“Section 6 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, clearly stipulates that the Lieutenant-Governor shall, from time to time, summon the Assembly to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session,” the Rohini legislator said.
“The unauthorised practice of calling sessions in different parts goes against the spirit of balance of power between the Chief Minister and Assembly on the one hand and the L-G of Delhi on the other. It is an attack on democratic functioning of the government,” he alleged. Mr. Gupta said it was the L-G and not the Chief Minister or the Cabinet or the Speaker who had the power to summon the Legislative Assembly and to prorogue it.
The 23 years of the Assembly’s functioning, Mr. Gupta said, had rarely seen the prolonging of the session in parts.