Delhi Govt moves SC to withdraw cases challenging LG’s authority

The BJP government in Delhi on Thursday moved the Supreme Court, seeking to withdraw seven cases filed during the tenure of its predecessor, Aam Aadmi Party government, challenging the authority of the Lieutenant-Governor on various issues.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed listing the application filed by the Rekha Gupta-led government for hearing on Friday after Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said the new government wanted to withdraw seven cases pending in the top court.

These cases – filed during the Arvind Kejriwal-led government — challenged the authority of the LG in several committees, including those for solid waste management, cleaning the Yamuna and against the validity of Acts and Ordinances. “These matters should not trouble this court anymore,” Bhati told the Bench.

“We will list all these cases for Friday and take up the application,” the Bench said.

In one such case, the SC had in July 2023 stayed a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, asking the LG to head a high-level committee constituted to deal with issues concerning the rejuvenation of the Yamuna.

The AAP government filed several cases in the SC, including a petition challenging the validity of a law giving a wider say to the LG to control the bureaucracy in Delhi. The party had challenged the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023 — known as Delhi Services Act — which extended the Centre’s control of services by giving powers to the LG over the elected government with regard to bureaucracy.

The SC had on July 20, 2023, referred the issue to a Constitution Bench for a final adjudication of the contentious issue.

Besides the Delhi Services Act, there are several other cases as well. In April 2023, the Delhi Government filed a petition with regard to the appointment of the chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).

The AAP government had also filed petitions regarding the LG’s conditional approval to send government school teachers to Finland for training and those seeking directions for release of funds by the LG to re-operationalise the Delhi Government’s Farishte scheme and initiation of contempt proceedings against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the illegal felling of trees in Delhi Ridge, in which role of Delhi LG VK Saxena came under scanner.