The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear as to “Who should control the Capital’s bureaucrats” – a dispute between the BJP-led central and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s government over the control of the civil services.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana and also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, scheduled the matter for hearing on March 3 when senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, on behalf of the Delhi government, mentioned the matter for urgent listing.
The top court’s intervention has been sought to resolve a prolonged conflict between the Centre and the Delhi government. The points of dispute include the transfer postings of IAS officers.
The AAP government has accused the Centre of using the Lieutenant Governor to control Delhi and obstruct the decisions of the elected government.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice A K Sikri and comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan of the apex court, in February 2019, delivered a split verdict on the question of powers of the Delhi government and the Centre over services and referred the matter to a three-judge bench.
Justice Bhushan held that the Delhi government had no power over ‘services’, while Justice Sikri, took the middle path.
AAP says two judgments, in 2018 and 2019, have not given any clarity on the drawn out dispute.
In 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that police, land and public order are the domain of the Centre, and the rest is under the Delhi government. That the Lieutenant Governor – the Centre’s representative in Delhi – did not have independent decision-making powers and the real power had to be with the elected government barring police, law and order and land.
In 2019, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court gave a split verdict and referred the case to a three-judge bench.
In the two-judge bench, Justice Ashok Bhushan had said the Delhi government has no power over the administrative services but Justice AK Sikri had said for officers below the rank of joint director, Delhi should take the decision and the Lieutenant Governor should step in only if there is a difference of opinion.
The Delhi government had contended that the Centre had excluded the elected government in the capital from exercising any administrative control over the officers. The government further argued that officers are continuing to act on the orders of the central government through the Lieutenant Governor (LG).
Justice Sikri concluded that files on the transfers and postings of officers in the rank of Secretary, Head of Department and Joint Secretary could be directly submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G). Justice Bhushan said Entry 41 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, dealing with ‘State Public Services,’ was outside the purview of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Justice Sikri said for DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre, the files could be processed through the Council of Ministers led by the Chief Minister to the L-G. Justice Sikri had said the situation in Delhi was “peculiar.”
The February 2019 judgment followed a Constitution Bench verdict in July 2018, where the bench held that L-G was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of the National Capital Territory government.