The timing could not have been more “telling”. On the very day that Delhi’s elected government and the Centre were indulging in an unseemly scrap in the apex court over which government wields more authority, the Delhi High Court deemed it necessary to flay the poor quality of governance to which the capital’s citizen is condemned due to a skewed sharing of power that has come in the way of adequate recruitment to the Delhi Police.

“Playing snakes and ladders, we are moving around in circles” observed the Bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sanjeev Sachdeva of the High Court. “Same orders are being passed again and again. We do not want the citizens to get lost in the logjam. Clearly, Delhi is not a safe place. We cannot sit idle while minor girls are being raped in the city,” the court observed while lambasting the failure to recruit even half of the 4,227 personnel sanctioned not only to augment force levels, but to also facilitate separating the investigative staff from those deployed on law and order maintenance duties.

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Their Lordships also highlighted the “bureaucratic quagmire” that had stymied the home ministry’s 2015 decision to sanction 14,000 more cops for the city since the matter was pending with the finance ministry. The court held that at some point the consultative process had to end and the issue resolved quickly.

It asked the Additional Solicitor General to inform it on 16 November whether there was need for the two ministers concerned to be involved in expediting the process. “Control” over the police has long been a matter of contention between the two governments: it is worth noting that even during the term of the previous chief minister, when both governments were dominated by the same party, Mrs Sheila Dikshit had sought a greater say in the management of police affairs.

So there is little need to imagine the current situation involving the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party which constantly have their daggers drawn. Issues being examined in the apex court go far beyond police recruitment, yet it cannot ignore the observations of the High Court. The Supreme Court has made some “balanced” observations in the initial phase of the hearings before it. Its final ruling will be anxiously awaited not just by those flexing muscle in Raj Niwas and the Delhi Secretariat at Players’ Building ~ the stakes are equally high for the common citizen.

The Capital may be pampered in terms of financial allocations for various facilities which other cities envy, but it is among the worstmanaged since neither Raisina Hill nor Players’ Building have it in them to rise above petty politicking. And to be fair, the Supreme Court and High Court would be hard-pressed to effect a change in those debilitating mindsets. Do the people of Delhi deserve this?