After Delhi Lieutenant Governor V. K. Saxena on Saturday removed Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Jasmine Shah and AAP MP ND Gupta's son, Naveen ND Gupta from the position of 'Government Nominees' on the Board of Private DISCOMS, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia slammed the Governor for "illegally overturning" a decision of the elected government.
Sisodia said, "The L-G has once again defied the Constitution and the Supreme Court and illegally overturned a decision of the elected government of Delhi.
The L-G illegally exercised the power of 'difference of opinion' and overturned the decision of the cabinet of the Delhi Government regarding the appointment of professional directors in power DISCOMS four years ago.
The L-G has no right to overturn the decisions of the Chief Minister and the cabinet of the elected government". He said that L-G can use the 'difference of opinion' power only in special circumstances, but keeping all rules and regulations aside, the L-G is using it to overturn every decision of the government.
The L-G believes that the orders of the Supreme Court do not apply to him. The L-G should understand that he is a resident of India only and has been appointed as per the Constitution; he will have to obey the constitution and also obey the orders of the Supreme Court, Sisodia said.
While addressing a press briefing, he said, "Ever since L-G has joined his office, he has ensured to pass an order every day that is 'unconstitutional' and against a Supreme Court's judgements.
With each order that he passes, he aims to prove that he does not follow the Constitution and that the Supreme Court orders do not apply to him.
To do the same, he overturned an order of the elected Government today, which was previously passed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet four years ago.
This is despite the fact that the L-G has no right to overturn the order passed by the Chief Minister and the cabinet of the state government."
Defining the procedure for application of 'difference of opinion', he highlighted that it is written in the laws that if L-G has a different opinion on any matter decided by the concerned Minister, the L-G must call the Minister and discuss the matter and ask him to discuss the same within the Cabinet.
Then if the Cabinet is also not ready to change its decision, L-G can write to the Centre that there is a 'difference of opinion' between the government and the L-G. Before following this procedure, he does not have the power to mention a 'difference of opinion' in any case.
He is implementing his orders illegally by threatening the officials, and not following the Constitution and Supreme Court judgements." "I would like to request the L-G that he must follow the Constitution and the judgements of the Supreme Court.
All the rulings of the Supreme Court apply to him as well and he must follow the procedures. It is not wrong to appoint professionals on the boards; this is clearly mentioned in the laws. There must be professionals on every board," he said.