Kejri govt to take Jung to apex court

'Who will rule Delhi? Selected or elected people'

The AAP government has been striving to weed out corruption from the system by taking concrete steps, but the High Court order prevents the city government from continuing with such initiatives.

So the AAP government will move Supreme Court to decide whether selected ones or the elected representatives should have more say in the administration of Delhi, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the High Court order held that Lieutenant Governor is the administrative head of Delhi.

The court’s verdicts bars the AAP government from taking anti-corruption steps like announcing compensation to consumers for power cuts and setting up inquiry commission to probe CNG fitness certificate scam. The government cannot increase compensation for farmers, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

“A property dealer is allowed to sell one acre land for Rs 3 crore and the government will give only Rs 50 lakh per acre to a farmer,” he added.

Sisodia said that the AAP government respect the sanctity of the High Court, but “it disagrees with the court’s order”.

“The High Court must have studied everything in detail and factored in all the elements, but we disagree with its verdict. The Constitution gives us the right to disagree with any order and appeal to the higher court. So we will move Supreme Court,” said Sisodia.
“Delhi is not just a Union Territory, it is a UT with legislature which means Delhi government is the administrative head.”

Sisodia said that people of Delhi want the AAP government to continue with its anti-corruption crusade.

“I want to dwell on the history of this case. What was the need of this case? Elected government has been functioning in Delhi since 1993. Before AAP government, Congress government was in power for 15 years at a stretch. If we ignore the Lieutenant Governor’s rule then Delhi has been largely ruled by the BJP and Congress,” he said.

”Suddenly a new party (AAP) forayed into Delhi’s political scenario. And people of Delhi gave an overwhelming response to the party and it came to power. What was the need of a new political party in Delhi?” he asked.

People wanted a new political party because both the BJP and Congress had ruled Delhi with corrupt governments for 20 years, he added.