The Delhi government will have to send its Jan Lokpal Bill to the Centre for legal vetting as a mandatory exercise, Union Home Ministry officials say.
They said all bills have to be sent to the central government for legal vetting, irrespective of whether they have any financial implication or not.
Dismissing the suggestion that only financial bills need legal vetting, officials said in an earlier case, the Delhi Assembly had sent the Gurudwara Administration Amendment bill to the Home Ministry despite the fact that it has no financial implications.
Officials said that the Gurudwara Bill is still pending with the Home Ministry as government was not keen to take a view on the matter as general elections are approaching.
They said that the Lokpal Bill enacted by Parliament is already in place and the Delhi government's Jan Lokpal Bill will be directly in conflict with it.
"No bill enacted by a state can be in conflict with the already existing central law," an official said.
If the Bill is sent, the Home Ministry will refer it to the Law Ministry. After the Law Ministry's vetting, the Bill would be forwarded to the President.
"Each state can not have a different law because if that happens, there would be serious consequences," the official said.
They said the LG had to send the Delhi government's reference to the Solicitor General because the city government does not have their independent legal wing and it had nothing to do with the central government.
