Completely paralysed despite Constitution bench verdict, Delhi govt tells SC

New Delhi, July 18

The Delhi government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that its functioning is “completely paralysed” and it couldn’t order transfer or posting of officers despite the recent Constitution bench verdict on the national capital’s administration.

The matter was heard by a bench of Justices AK Sikri and Navin Sinha.

The court said it knew everything and the matter would be taken up on July 26 since it is not a regular bench.

“Functioning of the government is completely paralysed. We cannot post officers, we cannot transfer officers despite the recent constitution bench verdict which has explained every aspect. These issues need to be adjudicated at the earliest,” said senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for the Delhi government.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who also appeared for the Delhi government, said officers are not willing to file an affidavit on the matter and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had therefore filed the affidavit.

“I just wanted to clarify the situation,” Jaising said.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra recently laid down broad parameters for the governance of the national capital, which has witnessed a power struggle between the Centre and Delhi government since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in 2014.

The bench had clarified that issues regarding various notifications issued by the Delhi government in exercise of its administrative and legislative powers would be dealt with separately by an appropriate smaller bench. PTI