The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined the urgent hearing of a plea to declare the sit-in by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues as unconstitutional. The apex court said that the plea would be listed for hearing after the summer vacation.
The sit-in by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues today entered its ninth day as impasse between the AAP dispensation and the Lt Governor over the IAS officers' 'strike' continued.
A vacation bench comprising justices S A Nazeer and Indu Malhotra said the plea would be listed for hearing after the summer vacation.
Lawyer Shashank Sudhi, appearing for petitioner Hari Nath Ram, sought the urgent hearing of the plea, saying a constitutional crisis has been created due to "the unconstitutional and illegal" protest by the chief minister inside the L-G's office here.
Moreover, the citizens are "left high and dry", he said. Sudhi said the Delhi High Court, which had heard the matters on the issue yesterday, has now posted them for hearing on June 22 and that the city is facing an "emergency situation" in which citizens are facing severe water crisis.
"We will list it on reopening of the court," the bench said, while declining the request for urgent hearing.
Besides seeking declaration of the sit-in as unconstitutional, the plea also sought initiation of perjury proceedings against either the chief minister or the office of the lieutenant governor (L-G) on the ground that one of them is lying.
The chief minister has been claiming that the IAS officers are on strike, but the L-G's office has asserted that the officers are very much on the job, the lawyer said.
The high court had virtually disapproved the sit-in led by Kejriwal at the LG's office and asked the AAP government who had authorised such a protest.
The AAP government's demands include a direction to IAS officers to end their "strike", demanding action to be taken against those who have struck work for "four months".
According to the government, IAS officers in Delhi have been on strike since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and are boycotting meetings with AAP ministers, affecting public work.
However, the officers association has claimed that nobody is on strike and no work has been affected.
The AAP government and the bureaucracy have been at loggerheads since the alleged assault on Prakash by AAP MLAs at Kejriwal's residence on the intervening night of February 19-20.
(With inputs from agencies)
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