Centre-Delhi Govt row referred to 5-judge Bench

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 6

The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench a dispute between the Centre and the Delhi Government on the issue of the control over bureaucracy in the Capital.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, however, said the issue related to “services” alone shall be decided by the Constitution Bench as it was not dealt with by the previous Constitution Bench.

The Bench — which also included Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli — directed that the matter be placed before the CJI for constituting the Constitution Bench, which will commence hearing on May 11.

The Centre had demanded that the issue should be referred to a Constitution Bench for a holistic interpretation of Article 239AA. The top court had on April 28 reserved its verdict on the Centre’s plea to refer the issue of control over bureaucracy in Delhi to a Constitution Bench after hearing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre and senior advocate AM Singhvi on behalf of the Delhi Government.

Singhvi had opposed the demand for referring the issue to a five-judge Bench, saying: “This court is not here to refer every time the slightest thing is pointed out. How does it matter if there were three or five judges. It is not about why not, it is about why.” Maintaining that there was no ambiguity in the 2018 Constitution Bench judgment, he said that if there was any, it could be decided by the present Bench. However, Mehta had insisted that it should be considered by a larger Bench as earlier judgments didn’t give “any roadmap” to decide if the Centre or the Delhi Government was competent to deal with the issue under dispute.

Describing Delhi as the “face of the nation”, Mehta had defended the Centre’s control over transfers and postings of bureaucrats in Delhi.

The Delhi Government has challenged the validity of the amended Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 2021, and Rule 13 of the Transaction of Business Rules, 1993, which allegedly gave more powers to Lieutenant Governor. This is the third round of litigation before the top court on the power tussle between Lt Governor of Delhi—appointed by the Centre—and the elected government led by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. The tussle has remained unresolved despite two earlier verdicts – one by a Constitution Bench and the other by a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court.

Dispute on control over bureaucracy

• This is the third round of litigation between the Centre and Delhi Govt over control over bureaucracy
• Tussle unresolved despite earlier verdicts – one by a Constitution Bench (July 2018) and other by a two-judge SC Bench

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