A legislation to increase minimum wage in the Capital and another Bill to turn Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) into a university were retabled in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday, after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government restored the definition of ‘State government’ in the Bills to mean the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G).
Both Bills had been passed by the Assembly in 2015 but had not been cleared by the Centre as the AAP government had changed the definition of State government to refer to the elected government, not the L-G.
‘Accepts suggestion’
In order to push the Bills along, the AAP government accepted the Centre’s suggestion to revert to the old definition of government. On Wednesday, the second day of the fifth part of the fifth session of the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tabled the Bills with the old definition.
The Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Bill, 2017 includes stricter punishments for employers who don’t adhere to minimum wages prescribed by the government. The 2015 version of the Bill increased wages by over 30%.
The Delhi Netaji Subhas University of Technology Bill, 2017 aims to grant university status to NSIT, which currently functions as a registered society fully-funded by the Delhi government.
According to the Bill, turning NSIT into a university would enable it to “function more efficiently as a teaching and research centre”.
These two Bills were among 14 legislations passed by the Assembly in 2015 and 2016 that were awaiting final approval from the Centre.