Swaraj Bill needs President's approval

Due to this, legislation unlikely to be tabled in two-day Assembly session

The Arvind Kejriwal government has been advised by his aides to send the Swaraj Bill – a citizen participation law – for approval to President Pranab Mukherjee, a suggestion which has dimmed the chances of the legislation being tabled in the two-day Assembly session on March 24-25.

“Some of the provisions in the draft Swaraj Bill come under the concurrent list of legislative powers of Delhi as a state and need the president’s nod,” said an AAP functionary.

The Bill proposes to set up around 3,000 “mohalla sabhas” – the basic citizen-based units for crowd sourcing budget and planning development programmes.

A citizen local area development (C-LAD) fund is also proposed to be given to every mohalla sabha and Resident Welfare Association, ensuring funds and functions in the hands of the community.

The Kejriwal government also wants to give mohalla sabhas the power to recall an elected representative, spend the local legislators’ development fund, give consent for opening liquor vends in their areas and allow change in land use.

The government also proposes to give a role to the mohalla sabhas in crime mattes by making it mandatory for police to inform the mohalla sabha concerned within two hours of the arrest of a resident living in its area. 

A top functionary of the Aam Aadmi Party government said some of the provisions of the Bill – aimed at devolution of power and involvement of citizens in local governance – are not in sync with Parliament-enacted Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and the 74th Constitutional Amendment which is related empowerment of urban local bodies.

“Some functions which are the constitutional duties of civic agencies are being touched upon by the provisions of the draft Swaraj Bill. These will have to be approved by the president before the proposed legislation is brought in the Delhi Assembly,” said a senior official in the chief minister’s office.

As per the Constitution, “where a law made by the Legislature of a State with respect to one of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List contains any provision repugnant to the provisions of an earlier law made by Parliament or an existing law with respect to that matter, then, the law so made by the Legislature of such State shall, if it has been reserved for the consideration of the President and has received his assent, prevail in that State”.

The Kejriwal cabinet was also briefed about the constitutional position over the Swaraj Bill by Chief Secretary K K Sharma.

The officials in CMO maintain that the AAP government is committed to empowering citizens for taking financial decisions related to development in their areas.

“The footprint of the ‘mohalla sabhas’ proposed by Kejriwal shall be at the polling booth level. Each sabha may represent three-four polling booths. The mohalla sabhas will be the third tier of governance working under the other two including a municipal ward and district development committee,” said an AAP leader.

Since the DMC Act mandates certain functions like garbage collection, maintenance of colony roads, midday meal and primary education and welfare schemes for mother and child healthcare for the  urban local bodies, the officials are seeking legal advice on avoiding an overlap of the roles and powers of the government-proposed “mohalla sabhas” and any other existing governance entity.