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Delhi,
the capital of India before and after independence has perhaps seen, more of
history than any other city in India. It was 1st created
as the capital of an independent kingdom by Tomars in 736 AD and gradually it became
the principal city of India and eventually its capital. Delhi changed hands at the
end of the 12th century and passed on to the hands of the Muslim
conquerors. Qutab-ub-din, Iltumish, Khiljis, Tughlaqs and Mughals ruled Delhi
in succession. The city of Delhi passed on to the hands of the British
in 1803 AD. It was only in 1911, when the capital of British empire was shifted
from Calcutta to Delhi, that Delhi got its present prestige.
After independence
also, a kind of autonomy was conferred on the capital but it largely remained a
chief commissioners regime. In 1956, Delhi was converted into a Union territory
and gradually the Chief Commissioner was replaced by a Lt. Governor. In 1991, the
national capital territory Act was passed by the parliament and a system of diarchy
was introduced under which, the elected Government was given wide powers; except
law and order which remained with the Central Government. The actual
enforcement of the legislation came in 1993.
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