NEW DELHI: In another setback to the Sheila Dikshit Government, the Select Committee of the Delhi Assembly headed by senior Congress MLA Tajdar Babar on Wednesday rejected the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2004. This is the third consecutive Bill that has been rejected by a Select Committee of the Vidhan Sabha.

Urban Development Minister A.K. Walia protested against the rejection but then decided to go along with the majority view.

Highly placed sources informed that as soon as the meeting began, one of its member, Mahabal Mishra of the Congress, said that the Bill was anti-people and against the interests of the Congress party and should be rejected outright. He said no discussion should be held on the subject and the Bill should be thrown out, as it was an attempt to defame the Congress and its Government. However, the BJP member Harsh Vardhan said the Bill should be sent to the House for consideration and if the members felt that it was not in the interest of the people it should be rejected.

Mr. Mishra, saying nothing short of rejection was acceptable, protested against this. Dr. Walia also tried to impress upon the members that the NDMC area should be seen with a different viewpoint and everything should be taken into consideration before taking such a step. He felt that there was a need to enhance penalties and fines in the NDMC areas as it was different from the MCD areas and therefore the members should not take an extreme view and allow it to reach the House. However, even Ms. Babar along with Mr. Mishra expressed her strong opposition to the Bill and said any hike of penalties or fines was unacceptable and she was not going to be part of any set-up that passes this Bill. At this, both Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Dr. Walia said they would go with the majority view and if rejection was the only option then they would not oppose it.

This is the third consecutive Bill rejected by a select committee of the Assembly. Earlier, the Select Committee had rejected the Delhi Water (Amendment) Bill, 2005, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (Second Amendment) Bill, 2004, that had led to a confrontation between the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit and the Delhi Assembly Speaker, Chaudhary Prem Singh. Ms. Dikshit had charged the Select Committee on the Water Bill with being unethical and moving with a pre-meditated agenda in mind. This charge was rejected by the Speaker who termed the outburst of the Chief Minister as uncalled for.

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