Delhi ordinance: Why Centre isn’t concerned over Congress' support for AAP

The Centre is unlikely to face any issues in passing its ordinance on the control of services in Delhi despite the Congress coming out in support of the Aam Aadmi Party. The grand old party on Sunday, claiming the Centre was attempting to ‘sabotage federalism’, declared that it would oppose the Centre’s ordinance. The development comes after the AAP continuously asked the Congress to make its stance clear on the Delhi ordinance before it would commit to joining the next Opposition meet. “We are consistently opposing the attempts of the Union government to sabotage federalism. We are consistently opposing the attitude of the central government to run the opposition states through the governors. Our stand is very clear, we are not going to support the Delhi ordinance,” Congress general secretary K C Venugopal told PTI. Venugopal said the party’s stand is clear as it will oppose any such move by the Centre to intervene in states ruled by Opposition parties through the governors and has decided to oppose the Delhi ordinance in Parliament whenever a bill comes up. But what does the ordinance say? And why is the Congress’ support to AAP not likely to make a difference when it comes to the passage of the ordinance? Let’s take a closer look: What does the ordinance say? The ordinance seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the LG before the 11 May apex court verdict. The Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over administration of services except for public order, police and land. The ordinance stated that “there shall be an authority to be known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority to exercise the powers conferred on, and discharge the functions assigned to it”. The authority will comprise the chief minister of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as its chairperson, along with the chief secretary and the principal home secretary, who will be the member secretary to the authority, it said. “All matters required to be decided by the authority shall be decided by majority of votes of the members present and voting. All recommendations of the authority shall be authenticated by the member secretary,” the ordinance said. “The central government, in consultation with the authority, shall determine the nature and the categories of officers and other employees required to assist the authority in the discharge of its functions and provide the authority with such officers and employees, as it may deem fit… “Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the National Capital Civil Service Authority shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all the Group ‘A’ officers and officers of DANICS serving in the affairs of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi but not officers serving in connection with any subject matter,” it read. The National Capital Civil Service Authority will meet at a time and place as the member secretary decides with the approval of the chairperson of the authority, as and when required, the ordinance added. Why won’t Congress support make a difference? Because of the numbers game in Parliament – which shows that the Centre is in a comfortable position in the Rajya Sabha and a huge majority in the Lok Sabha. According to NDTV, 11 Rajya Sabha seats are set to be filled today unopposed by five BJP and six Trinamool MPs. [caption id=“attachment_12672172” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The new Parliament building.[/caption] Meanwhile, the Congress is slated to lose one seat and lower its count to 30, while the BJP is set to gain another seat and take its tally to 93.

The BJP and its allies claim 105 members.

After 24 July, another seven seats will be vacated in Parliament – leaving the number of seats at 238 and the magic mark needed at 120. The BJP can also count on five nominated and two Independent MPs – leaving it eight short of the majority mark. However, the BSP, the Janata Dal Secular and Telugu Desam Party, all of whom with an MP in the House, are likely to support BJP. Meanwhile, the Opposition has 105 members in the Rajya Sabha. Now, all eyes will be on the BJD and YSR Congress – each having nine Rajya Sabha seats. According to Mint, if these two parties walk out on the ordinance vote, the magic number reduces from 120 seats to just 111 seats. The Centre could only face an issue if both BJD and YSR Congress come out against the ordinance, as per NDTV. As a piece in The Federal noted, “In the past, these two parties have tactically backed the BJP, and are unlikely to go with the Opposition. Therefore, the ruling alliance feels it is comfortably placed to defend the ordinance in Rajya Sabha even if five nominated members who are not members of BJP are not counted.” The development does pave the way for the Aam Aadmi Party to attend the second Opposition meeting in Bengaluru starting on Monday with a dinner. AAP leader Raghav Chadha welcomed the Congress’ “unequivocal opposition” to the ordinance and said “this is a positive development”. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, in a unanimous verdict, had put an end to the eight-year-old dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government triggered by a 2015 home ministry notification asserting its control over services, holding the National Capital Territory administration is unlike other Union territories and has been “accorded a ‘sui generis’ (unique) status by the Constitution. Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre’s point man, the lieutenant governor, the apex court asserted an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected. With inputs from agencies