A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was urged by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, that the matter be listed before a five-judge Constitution bench for urgent hearing.
“I can’t express the agony of the (Delhi) administration,” the senior lawyer said. “There are older Constitution bench matters. We are listing and there are two seven-judge bench matters also coming up. All these are also important and are pending for years,” the CJI said, adding it may be listed after some time.
The bench, however, asked Singhvi and Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain to sit together and decide the legal questions to be decided by the Constitution bench in the services row.
“We will appoint Shadan Farasat as nodal counsel. We will ask for the common compilation to be prepared. Prepare your submissions in four weeks and then you can mention it (for listing),” the bench said.
Earlier, the top court on August 25 had permitted the Delhi government to amend its petition challenging the central government’s ordinance establishing pre-eminence of the lieutenant governor over the elected dispensation in controlling services.
Amending the petition became necessary after the ordinance was replaced by a law. It had taken note of the submissions of Singhvi that earlier the challenge was directed against the ordinance which has now become a law after it was cleared by the two Houses of Parliament and got presidential assent.
”The interim application seeks amendment to the writ petition by which the NCT Ordinance was challenged. Now, it has been replaced by an Act (the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2023). We have heard the counsel.
“The solicitor general says they have no objection. The application for amendment is allowed. The counter-affidavit (reply of the Centre) if any, may be filed within four weeks,” the bench had said.
Parliament recently cleared the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2023, also known as the Delhi Services Bill, that gave the lieutenant governor sweeping control over service matters. After the president gave her assent, the bill became a law.
Prior to this, the top court had referred to a five-judge constitution bench the Delhi government’s plea challenging the Centre’s May 19 ordinance which took away the control over services from the city dispensation and set off a fresh tussle between the two power centres.
The Centre had on May 19 promulgated the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government termed it a ”deception” with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court.
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