NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Delhi High Court judgment declaring Delhi a Union Territory and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) its administrative head — whose prior consent was needed for all administrative decisions.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and N V Ramana asked the Centre to file a reply to seven special leave petitions filed by the Delhi government and scheduled the hearing for November 15.
The bench also declined to stay the decision of LG Najeeb Jung to set up a three-member committee to scrutinise over 400 files and past orders of the elected city government. “Every day there would be some order, we cannot pass orders on a daily basis,” the bench said. Senior lawyer K K Venugopal, appearing for the AAP government, had earlier said, “The LG’s permission is needed as no official is willing to sign... LG has no qualifications to govern Delhi. He is only an employee of the Centre and can be asked to leave at any moment.”