Delhi Ordinance a ‘Constitutional Fraud’; What Was the ‘Tearing Hurry’, Asks Former SC Judge Madan Lokur

The Centre’s Ordinance on the control of services in Delhi is inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution and no doubt overturns the form of administration prevailing in the national capital at least since 1991 when the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act became effective, retired Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur said in an op-ed for The Indian Express.

The ordinance issued by the Centre on May 19 brought back the executive control over matters related to services, including the transfers and postings of Delhi government officers, to its domain. It was issued close on the heels of a Supreme Court verdict on May 11, through which the Delhi government was given the executive control over matters related to services.

“Was there a tearing hurry to bring about a change? Was there an immediate need requiring the exercise of an extraordinary power granted by the Constitution? The Supreme Court had, just about a week before the Ordinance was promulgated, settled the controversy between the government of Delhi and the government of India regarding the appointment and control over officers working with the government of Delhi,” former judge Lokur wrote.

“The effect of the Ordinance is that the decision-making power has been taken away from the government of Delhi in respect of ‘services’ for no apparent reason. It has, instead, given the government of India unbridled power and reduced the chief minister and council of ministers of Delhi to something less than a rubber stamp,” the newspaper op-ed added.

Lokur also called the Ordinance a “constitutional fraud on the people of Delhi, its elected representatives and the Constitution”.

“Given the sweep of the Ordinance, it is quite clear that the intent and purpose of the Ordinance is to overturn the unanimous judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. The Ordinance comes out as a constitutional fraud on the people of Delhi, its elected representatives and the Constitution.”

Invoking BR Ambedkar’s speech on constitutional morality in the Constituent Assembly on November 4, 1948, Lokur said “ the entire exercise leads one to wonder whether Babasaheb Ambedkar was wrong in invoking the spirit of the Constitution and accepting ‘the necessity of the diffusion of constitutional morality for the peaceful working of a democratic Constitution…’.”

Sharing the op-ed on Twitter, Delhi CM and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said it exposes “the unconstitutionalility of Centre’s ordinance”.

The Kejriwal government has termed the ordinance “unconstitutional” and said it will challenge it in the Supreme Court.