The current BJP government in Delhi has started withdrawing cases filed by the previous AAP government against the Lieutenant Governor as well as its own departments, and bureaucrats, report suggest. Sources say this decision has been taken to ensure there is no confrontation with the Centre or the LG in running the administration.
Reports said that the department of law, justice and legislative affairs, after receiving instructions from Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, has issued directions to top bureaucrats to start withdrawing cases filed by the “ministers in charge in the previous government”.
Win for governance
Reports also suggest that the process has already begun with a lawyer in the Supreme Court being asked to give no-objection certificates (NOCs) for withdrawing one of these cases.
“We have decided to withdraw all the cases that were filed amidst political negativity against the L-G and the Centre,” a highly placed source in the newly formed government told ThePrint. “We will expedite the withdrawal process. We won’t wait for the dates and for these matters to come up before the courts first, because our time and resources are being wasted on such cases.”
One of the most important pending cases is the petition challenging the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023. This amendment had created a new statutory authority to handle the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in the Capital.
The AAP engaged in a tiff with the LG over the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson’s appointment. This was even more controversial since AAP had alleged that through its control, the BJP wanted to end Delhi’s power subsidy scheme, one of its flagship projects.
Meanwhile, trouble seems to be increasing for AAP chief and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after the Rouse Avenue court on Tuesday directed Delhi Police to register an FIR against him and others in a matter related to the defacement of public property in the Dwarka area in 2019.
Kejriwal was granted bail in September last year by the Supreme Court after spending five months in jail in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
