'No bills returned to Delhi govt by MHA'

The Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta on Saturday accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of making a false claim that bills passed by the AAP-dominated House were sent back by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Reacting to reports that the MHA returned 14 bills passed by the AAP administration, including the Jan Lokpal Bill, Kejriwal on Friday took to Twitter to claim that the bills were returned despite his administration following the due procedure.

“Kejriwal, through his wrong and false tweets, time and again, wants to defame the Union government. By tweeting about the bills, he has mislead the people that prescribed procedures have been completed 10 times to get the bills passed,” Gupta told reporters.

CM Kejriwal-led government has been questioning why the bills passed by the “chosen legislative assembly” of Delhi needs to have prior assent of the LG or the MHA.

According to the BJP MLA, the bills sent by the Delhi government to the Centre include the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of NCT Delhi (salaries, allowances, pension) Amendment Bill, 2015, the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, 2015, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015, Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill, 2015, Delhi Netaji Subhas University of Technology  Bill, 2015, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (Amendment) Act 2015, Delhi School (Verification of Accounts and Refund of Excess Fee) Bill, 2015, Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amedment Bill, 2015, and the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Condition of Service) and the Miscellaneous Provisions (Delhi Amendment) Bill, 2015.

“Laid down constitutional and statuary procedures, rules and regulations have not been followed before forwarding the bills. That is the reason that these bills are pending,” Gupta said.

He added that the CM is making false claims because he is miffed over the MHA not giving assent to the bill seeking a four-fold increase in salaries of the MLAs.