The founding fathers of the Constitution were unambiguous, categorical and crystal clear that the concept of Statehood for Delhi is impractical and cannot be given effect to as long as Delhi remains India’s Federal capital and the seat of Central Government. However, notwithstanding unanimity of views expressed by them, some political parties at the local level, driven unabashedly by narrow vested interests and in contradiction to the vision and wisdom of our national icons, continued to demand full Statehood for Delhi from time to time. Thanks to the maturity and sophistication of Delhi voters, they have now bottled up the issue by puncturing the plank of Statehood in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections, 2019 by not giving even a single seat in Lok Sabha to the protagonists of this concept. An unmissable book on the subject which unravels many mysteries. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contents Foreword —Pgs. 5 Introduction —Pgs. 7 The Curtain Raiser —Pgs. 11 1. Transfer of Capital —Pgs. 31 2. Today’s Delhi: An Overview —Pgs. 39 3. Statehood for Delhi: A Perspective —Pgs. 48 (I) Ambedkar, Nehru, Patel, Rajaji: None favoured separate Delhi Government (Statehood), all for Centrally Controlled Delhi —Pgs. 48 (II) Constituent Assembly: Rules out a Separate Delhi Province —Pgs. 53 (III) Constituent Assembly: Appoints Special Committee to Suggest Constitutional status for Delhi and similar other provinces —Pgs. 60 (IV) Special Committee: Recommends Provincial Autonomy (Statehood) for Delhi —Pgs. 70 (V) Congress Party’s Campaign for Self-Government to Delhi —Pgs. 79 (VI) Drafting Committee and India’s big three reject Special Committee’s Recommendations —Pgs. 89 (VII) Delhi Assembly Resolutions Demanding Statehood and Introduction of Statehood Bill in Parliament —Pgs. 101 (VIII) Constitutional Procedure required to be Followed if Delhi is to be made a State —Pgs. 111 (IX) Arguments for and Against Statehood —Pgs. 113 (X) Statehood: Will It Benefit Delhities? —Pgs. 122 4. Delhi’s Constitutional History —Pgs. 126 (I) Position during British Period (1857-1947) 126 (II) Position during 1947 to 1950 —Pgs. 129 5. Administering Delhi: Post-Independence Experiments —Pgs. 130 (I) Experiment No. 1: Direct administration by Union Government (1947-1950) —Pgs. 130 (II) Experiment No. 2: Delhi as Part C State (1952-1956) —Pgs. 130 (III) Experiment No. 3: The Metropolitan Council Set-up (1966-1991) —Pgs. 133 (IV) Experiment 4 : Lt. Governor, Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers (1993 onwards) —Pgs. 134 6. Existing Set-Up at a Glance —Pgs. 146 (I) Laws, Rules and Regulations Applied for Governance of National Capital —Pgs. 146 (II) Core features incorporated in the Constitution —Pgs. 147 (III) Consequential features incorporated in Act of Parliament —Pgs. 149 (IV) Rules of Business framed under NCT Act, 1991 —Pgs. 149 (V) Existing Set-up: Highlights of Salient Features —Pgs. 153 (VI) Position with Regard to Other Services and Matters —Pgs. 155 (a) Public Order and Police —Pgs. 155 (b) Land —Pgs. 156 (c) The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) —Pgs. 157 (d) Public Services —Pgs. 158 (e) New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) —Pgs. 159 (f) The Delhi Cantonment Board —Pgs. 160 (g) Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) 161 (h) Delhi Milk Scheme and Mother Dairy —Pgs. 161 (i) National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) —Pgs. 161 7. CM-LG Jurisdictional Tussle and Supreme Court Ruling —Pgs. 163 8. Control Over Services: Much Ado About Nothing —Pgs. 167 Appendix: Text of Supreme Court Judgement in Government of NCT of Delhi vs. Union of India (Civil Appeal No. 2357 of 2017) —Pgs. 171