Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: A day after Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran suggested that the Delhi government enacting the Jan Lokpal Bill without the consent of the Central government will be illegal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he would write to the Lieutenant Governor on the issue.
Sources further said the Kejriwal government is also seeking legal opinion on the matter.
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had written to the Solicitor General seeking his opinion on the constitutionality of the Delhi government`s proposal to enact the Bill without seeking Centre`s clearance.
Parasaran opined that Lt Governor`s prior approval is necessary prior to enacting the bill.
The SG is also believed to have told the LG that Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, passed last year by Parliament, is in force and a Lokpal Bill in Delhi will be repugnant to the central law. Therefore, it will require the assent of the President.
“It`s on the Governor to consider our opinions and act as he sees fit,” Parasaran said today.
Union minister Manish Tewari said legal position has to be followed if the Solicitor General has informed LG about it. He further hoped that the AAP government will follow the Constitution.
The Congress, without whose support the AAP government cannot survive, has decided that it oppose the Bill at the introduction stage itself.
Unfazed by criticism, the AAP government has declared that it will go ahead with enacting the law. It plans to introduce the bill in the Delhi Assembly on February 13 and discuss it for two days before shifting the proceedings to a sports stadium for passage of the bill.
