Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah replied to the discussion on the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha today, after discussion the house passed the bill by 131-102.

Replying to the discussion, Union Home Minister said that the purpose of the bill is to ensure corruption-free and people-oriented governance in Delhi. He said that not a single provision of the bill will change the existing system. He added that Delhi is different from all the states in many ways because Parliament House, Constitutional Dignitaries, Supreme Court and Embassies are in Delhi and Heads of countries from all over the world come here, that's why Delhi was made a Union Territory.

Shri Shah said that the Delhi Government’s problem with this Bill, is that they want to enjoy the rights of the state after contesting the elections for UT, He said that the solution to this problem is that they have to change their mindset. He said Assembly of Union Territory of Delhi is the only assembly in the country, which does not prorogue, from 2020 to 2023 and it has called only the budget session. Shri Shah said that they call very few cabinet meetings, had kept 13 permissions pending for institutions like AIIMS, IIT-Delhi, an act was enacted in 2016 to bring 5G technology, which was accepted by all the states of the country but they did not accept it

The Union Home Minister said that from From 1991 to 2015, there were many Chief Ministers of different parties in Delhi, but no one ever had any quarrel with the central government because all wanted development, not to capture the power. He said that During the discussion, it has been said that the central government wants to capture power, there is no need for the central government to capture power, the 130 crore people of India have themselves given the power to central government. He said that the government  has brought this Bill so that the encroachment of the centre’s power by the government of Delhi UT can be stopped legally.

Shri Amit Shah said that Under Article 239 (AA)(3)(B), the Parliament has full power to make laws with respect to the Union Territory of Delhi or any part it and on any matter related to it. He said that the central government was not eager to take rights but only to protect the rights of the people of Delhi, that's why we had to bring the ordinance. He said that if the central government had not brought the ordinance, then there would have been a new scam missing files related to all these scams.

Union Home Minister said that during emergency more than 3 lakh workers of political parties were sent to jail, censorship was imposed on newspapers, such people should not talk about democracy. Shri Shah said that Government is always ready to discuss Manipur issue in the House, and I myself is ready to answer everything in the discussion, but opposition do not want discussion on Manipur. He said that the Vigilance department was targeted by the Delhi government because the excise scam and illegal expenditure on the construction of the Chief Minister's new bungalow files were there. Shri Shah said that the Section 3A has been removed from the bill by the Government of India itself, now the Legislative Assembly of Delhi will also be able to make service rules, but that law should not be contradictory to the law made by the Centre.

Shri Amit Shah said that Since 1993, Delhi was running according to the rules, but these rules had to be made a part of the law because such a government has come which does not follow the rules.

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