Supreme Court Refers Delhi Govt’s Ordinance Petition to a Constitution Bench

NEW DELHI: In a major setback for the AAP government in Delhi, the Supreme Court on Thursday referred its petition challenging the Centre's ordinance to a Constitution bench.

The ordinance has the power to take away from the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government the power of control over services.

The SC bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra informed that a detailed order is slated to be uploaded by the Supreme Court on its website later in the day.

While senior advocates Harish Salve appeared for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, Abhishek Singhvi represented the Delhi government. On the other hand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Centre.

After conducting a hearing on the submission, the apex court said, “We will refer it to the constitution bench.”

The apex court had felt that an amendment to the Constitution has been necessitated by the Centre's issue of the ordinance and so implied that the petition ought to be referred to a constitution bench.

The top court had earlier refused to grant an interim stay on the ordinance, which pertains to the control of service in the national capital, and instead issued notices to the Centre and lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena.

On Monday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that “anarchy” and “administrative chaos” in the national capital had led to the Union government promulgating an ordinance to wrest the control over bureaucrats from the elected Delhi government and hand it over to the L-G.

The Centre had also blamed the AAP government of acting in an “undemocratic” fashion in trying to influence ongoing investigations into several vigilance cases, which allegedly involved its ministers.

On May 19, the Centre had issued the 2023 Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance. The ordinance had, in effect, cancelled a May 11 Supreme Court judgment seeking to hand over the control of bureaucrats in Delhi from the elected government in all but three spheres of land, public order, and policing.

The Supreme Court also underscored that the deadlock over next Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chief remained as both the Delhi government and Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena has failed to arrive at a common name for the post

The court further said that DERC chairperson will be appointed on its own on an interim basis, until the Delhi government's challenge to the 2023 ordinance is finalised.

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