Bid to restrict Delhi Assembly's financial autonomy: Speaker Goel

Delhi Speaker claimed in budget session that attempts were being made to further restrict legislative body's limited financial autonomy through appointment of city govt's Law secretary as admin head

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Monday claimed in the budget session that attempts were being made to further "restrict" the legislative body's limited financial autonomy through appointment of city government's Law secretary as its administrative head.

Goel made the remark after the House passed Delhi government's budget 2023-24 following a discussion, and asked the Finance minister to look into the matter.

Reading out a statement, Goel said the Finance Department of Delhi government has in a recent letter said the law department will be the administrative head of the legislative assembly.

"It is a direct attack on the legislature and a clear effort to curb its independent functioning," Goel said in the statement in Hindi.

He charged the development was a "conspiracy" by the officers to "obstruct" the functioning of the Assembly due to politics.

He said according to the Constitution, the Parliament and state legislatures should have an independent Secretariat with financial autonomy under the Speaker but Delhi legislative assembly was still dependent on the finance department for its expenditure.

He said, the House in 2019 had approved recommendations of the general purposes committee of the Assembly for its independent secretariat. Earlier, such instructions were given to the Finance Department by former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in 2017.

Goel pointed that the secretary general of the Lok Sabha, through his letter in 2021, had asked chief secretary of the Delhi government for providing financial autonomy to the Assembly, in accordance with recommendation of the Conference of All India Presiding Officers.