President Murmu delegates fresh powers to Delhi L-G VK Saxena amid his tussle with CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu, has delegated two new powers to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena. Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020, the Lieutenant Governor can now formulate rules in the areas of the National Capital Territory of Delhi that require it. This was announced in two separate notifications issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on January 16. The notifications state that the Lieutenant Governor will exercise these powers and discharge the functions of the appropriate government or state government under these rules until further order.

Similar powers have also been delegated to the administrators and Lieutenant Governors of five other Union Territories, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep.

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The notifications further state that in pursuance of Clause (1) of Article 239 of the Constitution, the President directs that the administrator or Lieutenant Governor of these Union Territories shall, subject to the control of the President and until further order, exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the appropriate Government or State Government under these codes to formulate the rules only in the areas where these Union Territories are required to formulate rules either as appropriate Government or State Government.

Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the appropriate government may exempt any new industrial establishment or class of establishments from the provisions of the Code in the public interest. Similarly, another notification mentions regarding delegation of powers of state government and appropriate government under the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020 to the administrator and Lieutenant Governor of these six Union Territories.

Power tussle between Delhi CM and LG

The delegation of these two new powers to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi is significant amid his stalemate with the Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal. The recent flashpoint between the two was triggered ahead of the January 23 election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused the Lieutenant Governor of issuing orders on "practically everything" and bypassing the elected government.

(With ANI inputs)