SC refers Delhi govt's plea challenging Centre's Ordinance to 5-judge Constitution bench
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday referred a Delhi government's petition, challenging the Centre's ordinance aimed at transferring control of services from the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to a Constitution bench.
The bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra said that a detailed order will be uploaded by the Supreme Court on the website later today.
Senior advocates Harish Salve and Abhishek Singhvi appeared for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and the Delhi government respectively and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Centre.
After hearing the submission, the apex court said, “We will refer it to the constitution bench.”
The top court recently refused to grant an interim stay on the ordinance, over the control of service in the national capital, and issued notices to the Centre and lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena.
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that “anarchy” and “administrative chaos” in the national capital led the Union government to urgently promulgate an ordinance wresting control over bureaucrats from the elected Delhi government.
The Centre further blamed the AAP government for acting in an “undemocratic” fashion while trying to influence ongoing investigations into several vigilance cases, allegedly involving its ministers.
The Centre announced the 2023 Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance on May 19.
The ordinance, in effect, nullified a May 11 Supreme Court judgment affirming that the control of bureaucrats in Delhi must remain with the elected government in all but three spheres — land, public order, and policing.
The Supreme Court also said that the deadlock over the next Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chief continued as both the Delhi government and Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena failed to arrive at a name for the post with consensus.
The bench during the hearing listed the DERC matter on August 4 and further stated that it would propose the name of a protem chairperson for appointment on an ad-hoc basis till the petition is decided, reported Bar and Bench.