Why LG's of Delhi and Puducherry are the Actual Masters of their Constituency

By siliconindia | Tuesday, 09 August 2016, 05:51 Hrs

BENGALURU: Episodes that have been unraveling in the past week seem to have a close resemblance to a very realistic Indian Game of Thrones. Reports emerged from both Puducherry and Delhi about the clash between the elected government and the Lt. Governor.

However, the Puducherry Chief Minister was quick to refute any such suggestion, saying that these were false allegations and further explained that the constitution delegated them with different powers and objectives and there was no clash of swords.

But the scenario in Delhi seems to be entirely different. Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung seems to have found loopholes in the constitution, which helped him undermine the ruling Aam Admi Party, and has all government officials abiding by his rule. Speculations are rife that the BJP headed government is orchestrating this, with Mr. Najeeb Jung as its cover.

Although, there is a lot of investigation and digging around to do to substantiate such claims, it remains to be seen what is so special about these two Union Territories that gives so much power over the elected government.

Post independence, the Indian states were grouped into four different classes. Former governor’s provinces constituted the part A states. Part B consisted of former Princely states, part C comprised of states governed by chief commissioners and the rest were part D territories. The States Re-organization Act of 1956 abolished the three categories of states and the part D territories became Union territories.

According to article 239, these Union Territories are governed by the President through an appointed administrator. Delhi and Puducherry alone stood in that, where the people were allowed to elect a government while a Lt. Governor was nominated by the President. It was decided that the government would rule with the Lt. Governor as an advisor. But surprisingly, the article 239AA, which was a restructure of the original, allotted certain powers to the Lt. General, by which, with the consultation of the president, the Lt. Governor could over-rule the elected government’s decision.

This is why the Delhi high court’s decision to up-keep the Lt. Governor’s privileges which are enhanced by certain holes in the constitution is very worrying as it can easily undermine any decision taken by the elected government.