Supreme Court says power with LG, but may bring rider

NEW DELHI: In its initial remarks on Thursday on the power tussle between the Centre and the Delhi governments, the Supreme Court said the legislative scheme seemed to have titled the power balance in the LG’s favour, but hinted at reining him in to allow the elected government to function in the NCT.

A five-judge bench, led by CJI Dipak Misra, is hearing appeals against a Delhi HC ruling in LG’s favour. The Delhi government had appealed against the ruling which it said had brought governance to a halt.

In the first hint that the court may work out a scheme to make the system workable, the bench observed the law which had conferred the NCT status on Delhi seemed to have titled the power balance in the LG’s favour. The state government cannot contest the legislative supremacy of Parliament, the bench said, prompting senior advocate Gopal Subramanium to clarify that the state government was only restricting its arguments to the executive arena.

“We cannot be sans business. The LG says he has over-arching supervision. As a result, civil servants do not consider ministers as their authority. The result: no decisions are taken. Ministers have to literally fall at the feet of bureaucrats to get work done. This is not what was intended under Article 239AA,” he said.

The bench said LG had a “right to differ”, but seemed to agree with Subramanium that governance cannot be made a casualty in the fight. “LG must exercise power in a reasonable time and must refer it to the President if he differs...,” the bench said.