New Delhi: The Jan Lokpal Bill will not be tabled in Delhi Assembly on Thursday as the MLAs have not given a copy of the Bill. "The Lokpal Bill won't be tabled today, it's not listed in the assembly. The members hadn't got a copy of the Bill so I told the government to circulate a copy of the Bill to read it," said Speaker MS Dhir.
The Speaker cannot approve tabling of the Bill without the Lt Governor's approval. "If the government wants they can introduce the Bill but to discuss it Lt Governor's approval is needed," said Dhir.
Meanwhile, the Union Law Ministry has said that the Delhi government has to take prior consent of the Centre before passing such a bill. Kejriwal will also seek a sense of the House on whether to hold a special outdoor assembly session on February 16 or not.
AAP has gone back to its favourite method of referendum to gather support for the Bill and is holding Jan Sabhas across Delhi on Jan Lokpal and Swaraj Bill.
Kejriwal has said that he has a list of Bills passed by the previous Congress government in Delhi that hadn't taken the prior consent of the Centre. Questions are being raised as to whether Kejriwal is deliberately pushing the Congress to withdraw support from his 2-month old government.
"If the Congress and the BJP vote against the tabling of the Bill, then most probably the government will have to go," said AAP leader Prashant Bhushan.
"The Law Ministry has given its opinion on the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, the power is legally vested in the L-G. The L-G has the right to advise the Delhi government not to table the Bill," said Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal.
A confrontation between L-G Najeeb Jung and Kejriwal has been buiding over the past few days with both failing to arrive at a consensus on whether the Delhi government can table Bills without the consent of the Centre. Kejriwal, in a strongly worded letter to Jung, had reminded him of his oath to the Constitution and Jung wrote back citing the rule book.
The BJP and Congress, both have been saying that they want due process to be followed. "Doesn't Kejriwal know that he has to give two days for discussion on a Bill," asked Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely.
In a 70-member House, the AAP now has just 27 members. It does not have the numbers to pass its pet Bill without the support of Congress and Independents.
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