The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a plea from the Delhi Government on July 10, challenging the Delhi Services Ordinance’s constitutional validity. This ordinance, enacted in May, empowers the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi with overriding authority to manage the transfers and postings of civil servants in the national capital.
Senior Advocate AM Singhvi, representing the Delhi Government, brought the plea before a bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra for urgent listing. The Court agreed to hear the plea on July 10.
“List on July 10, Monday,” the CJI directed.
The plea, filed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, argues that the ordinance wrests control over civil servants serving in Delhi from the elected government and hands it over to the unelected Lieutenant Governor.
“This is the challenge to the ordinance as a whole. The other matter is just a challenge to one section, Section 45D. Please keep on Monday,”
Singhvi responded when CJI DY Chandrachud suggested that the matter could be heard with another similar matter pending before the court.
The ordinance was promulgated a little over a week after a Supreme Court Constitution Bench held that the Delhi government is entitled to control over all services, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, in the national capital. The plea moved before the Supreme Court through advocate Shadan Farasat said that the ordinance
“violates the scheme of federal, democratic governance for the National Capital Territory of Delhi in Article 239AA of the Constitution; is manifestly arbitrary; legislatively overrules or reviews a Constitution Bench judgment; is an impermissible and unconstitutional abuse of ordinance-making powers under Article 123 of the Constitution.”
The petition further states that
“The principle of collective responsibility in a democracy – incorporated in Article 239AA(6) – requires that the elected government be vested with control over officials posted in its domain. In the federal context, this would require that such control be vested in the regional government – i.e. the GNCTD under Article 239AA – for matters in its domain. This essential feature was secured for the GNCTD by this Hon’ble Court’s 2023 Constitution Bench judgment, and is now sought to be undone by the Impugned Ordinance.”
The Delhi Government has also expressed concern that the ordinance sidelines the elected government from control over its civil service.
“The Impugned Ordinance, thus, completely sidelines the elected Government, i.e. the GNCTD, from control over its civil service,”
the Delhi Government states, pointing out that a similar end was sought to be achieved by the Central Government through its 2015 notification, which was invalidated by the Supreme Court.
This case is significant as it addresses the balance of power between the elected government and the Lieutenant Governor in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The outcome could have far-reaching implications for the governance of the capital city. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.