No Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly, AAP to give it to MLAs today

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party government is unlikely to table the anti-graft Jan Lokpal Bill on the first day of the Assembly session beginning today but will circulate it among legislators to enable them to study the proposed legislation. “The Bill will not be tabled today. It will be circulated among the members and may be tabled tomorrow,” government sources said. They said as per laid down procedure voting for introduction of the Bill is likely to take place in the assembly tomorrow and if Congress and BJP vote against it then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal may quit. [caption id=“attachment_1388453” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] Going for a confrontation with the Centre, the AAP government has already declared that it was going ahead with tabling of the Jan Lokpal Bill in the assembly even if Union Law Ministry’s opined that Centre’s prior approval was required. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been maintaining that there is no need to obtain prior approval from the Centre while BJP and Congress are of the view that clearance was necessary under Transaction of Business Rules (TBR), 2002. Both Congress and BJP held the government’s move as “unconstitutional”, saying laid down procedures will have to be followed. On Sunday, Kejriwal had threatened to resign if the Bill was not passed by the state Assembly due to lack of support from other parties. Last night, the Union Law Ministry had held that the rules governing Delhi government’s legislative business were constitutional where Centre’s consent was required before its passage. Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Monday had sought Law Ministry’s view on the vexed issue. The Law Ministry has held that the Transaction of Business Rules (TBR) make it mandatory that the Lt Governor refer to the Centre every legislative proposal which may necessitate additional financial assistance. The four-day session of the Assembly is being convened to pass the Jan Lokpal and Swaraj Bills. The AAP government has announced plans to hold the last day of the session at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium despite objection to the move by the Lt Governor. PTI