NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is expected to deliver on Wednesday its verdict on the ongoing power tussle between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government and the Centre, represented by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The Kejriwal government had last year moved the apex court, accusing the Centre of encroaching upon the authority of the elected government through the L-G.
Challenging the Delhi High Court ruling that the L-G was the administrative head of Delhi, the AAP government, during a month-long hearing before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, contended that an elected government cannot be without any power and that the Constitution did not give the L-G powers to “stultify daily governance by sitting over files”.
The Delhi government contended that a harmonious interpretation of Article 239AA of the Constitution was needed to fulfill the constitutional mandate for a democratically-elected government in Delhi.
Opposing the plea, the Centre argued that the Delhi government cannot have the “exclusive” executive powers. The Centre had referred to the Constitution, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, and the Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules to assert that the Union government and the L-G had supremacy over city dispensation in administering the national capital.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been locked in a bitter power tussle with the Centre ever since his AAP swept to power in Delhi in 2015. At present, the Delhi government does not have control over land, bureaucracy and Delhi police. The AAP accuses the Centre of ruling Delhi by proxy through the L-G. The Delhi government had accused the L-G of making a “mockery of democracy”. During the hearings, the judges had observed that the L-G did appear to have primacy, but also indicated that he cannot “sit over files”. The SC had said it would only lay down the principles on the status of the national capital under the Constitution.