Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (Source: PTI Photo) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (Source: PTI Photo)

Hitting out at the Delhi government’s full-page advertisements in newspapers claiming that the Centre has ‘withheld’ approval to 14 bills of public interest passed by the Delhi Assembly, Home Ministry officials on Wednesday said the MHA had received only 11 bills passed by the Delhi government and that consent has been withheld only in case of The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Of the other 10 bills received by the Home Ministry, only two bills have been with the MHA for more than six months, and both are under examination, the officials added.

“The Home Ministry received only 11 bills reserved for Presidential Assent by the Lieutenant Governor, not 14 as claimed by the Delhi government in its advertisement today. Of these 11, only in the case of one bill, related to parliamentary secretaries, has approval been withheld,” said a senior MHA official.

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According to the official, of the other 10 bills, two bills were sent back to the Delhi government for clarifications and are pending with it.

“The two bills – Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Bill, 2015, and The Delhi Netaji Subhas University of Technology Bill, 2015 – were returned to the Delhi government seeking clarifications. Reminders were also sent to the Delhi government, but we are yet to receive a response,” the official added.

According to the MHA, of the remaining 8 bills, six were received by MHA only on April 1, 2016 and are under various stages of examination.

“Only two of the 11 Delhi government Bills received have been with the Home Ministry for more than six months. These are under examination,” the official said.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was received by the MHA in August 2015, while the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill, 2015, was received by it in December 2015.

“More time is being consumed in processing of the bills because prior approval of the Centre was not sought as required by law before the they were passed by the Delhi Assembly. This had never happened before,” said an MHA official.

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