Plea against Lt. Governor's power to refer bills to centre dropped

A plea was Tuesday withdrawn from the Delhi High Court that sought to declare as unconstitutional the law which empowers Delhi's Lt. Governor to refer certain bills to the central government before these are tabled in the assembly.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul asked the petitioner, advocate R.K. Kapoor, to withdraw the PIL as it became infructuous after the AAP chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the post. "You should withdraw the petition because of the changed circumstances. The matter is now of academic interest only. The liberty is granted to approach the court if need arises. The petition is dismissed as withdrawn," said the bench.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Kapoor Feb 14, seeking directions to declare as unconstitutional the Rule 55 of the Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules. 

Rule 55 requires the LG to refer to the central government certain legislative proposals, including financial bills, before they are introduced in the assembly. The Jan Lokpal bill was not introduced in the assembly despite the Arvind Kejriwal government's best efforts as a motion to introduce its tabling was defeated with 42 votes against and only 27 for in the 70-member Delhi assembly. Kejriwal later announced his resignation.

The central government told the court that the Jan Lokpal bill was a financial bill and required LG's nod before it was tabled in the assembly. However, Kapoor submitted that the said provision was against the constitution and beyond the scope of the provisions of the GNCTD Act.