The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear next week the Delhi government’s appeals related to its judgement on the scope of the government’s powers, PTI reported.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the top court on July 4 ruled that the lieutenant governor is bound by the “aid and advice” of the council of ministers of the state government in all matters under its jurisdiction. It said that barring public order, police and land, the Delhi government has the power to legislate and govern on every other matter. During the proceedings, the AAP government claimed the lieutenant governor has paralysed its executive functions and accused bureaucrats of not obeying the orders of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The court then clarified that matters related to the Delhi government’s administrative and legislative powers would be dealt with separately by an appropriate smaller bench.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the state government’s submission. The Kejriwal government claimed that even after the verdict the stalemate over the matter of public services has not been resolved. “It will be listed sometime in next week,” the judges told lawyer Rahul Mehra, who represented the Delhi government.
The day before, Kejriwal accused Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal of selectively implementing the top court’s order. Kejriwal said of the five topics the Supreme Court mentioned in its judgement, Baijal had agreed to implement only four. On the fifth – control of the bureaucracy – Baijal had reiterated the court’s position that a regular bench must decide the matter, Kejriwal said.
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