SC stay on high-level committee on Yamuna rejuvenation ‘huge message’ for Delhi LG: AAP

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s stay on the NGT order forming a high-level committee for Yamuna cleaning as a ”huge message” for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena.

The apex court stayed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that asked the Delhi LG to head a high-level committee constituted to deal with issues concerning rejuvenation of the Yamuna river.

Asked about the development, Bharadwaj said Saxena’s working style is ”contradictory”.

”(Activist) Medha Patkar filed a case against him and he said he is the LG and should be given immunity from the trial. A governor and the president are given immunity because they do not enjoy executive powers and are just a rubber stamp.

”In front of the NGT, the Lieutenant Governor said he has executive powers. The SC has now said he does not have the powers to direct officials. It is a huge message to the LG and his favourite officials by the Supreme Court,” the AAP leader said at a press conference here.

In January, the green tribunal constituted the high-level committee of authorities concerned in Delhi for the rejuvenation of heavily polluted Yamuna in the city.

Bhardwaj in a statement said all the works to clean the Yamuna-construction, upgradation of STPs, drain trapping, sewer laying were part of the Yamuna Cleaning Action Plan announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2019.

All the projects which were going on were passed by the Delhi Assembly in subsequent budgets, he said.

”The Delhi LG is not empowered to allocate even a single penny from the state budget. He was simply acting like a tourist at all these projects and getting his pictures clicked,” said the minister in the statement.

The court order ”reinforces” that the LG has ”no executive powers” and it is the elected government of Delhi that holds the ”real” power, Bhardwaj said.

In a situation where the LG is not accountable to the people he can not be accorded any executive powers. The Supreme Court has rightly stayed the NGT Order that gave the LG such powers in contravention of the law, he added.