Blow for AAP as SC keeps Jung on top

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court refused on Friday to stay a Delhi high court verdict declaring the lieutenant governor (L-G) the administrative head of the national

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court refused on Friday to stay a Delhi high court verdict declaring the lieutenant governor (L-G) the administrative head of the national capital territory.

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The top court’s order is viewed as a setback to the Arvind Kejriw al government, which is engaged in a turf war with the Centre’s representative over administrative control of the city-state.

A bench headed by justice AK Sikri also declined to stop the functioning of a three-member panel set up by L-G Najeeb Jung to scrutinise 400-odd files related to decisions taken by the AAP government without his concurrence.

The order comes a day after the HC declared the appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries illegal in the absence of the L-G’s approval.

While issuing notices to the Centre and the L-G on the government’s petitions against the HC verdict, the bench indicated that it might refer the matter to a larger bench. The top court said it will hear the six appeals filed by the A AP government on November 15.

“Every day there would be some order, we cannot pass orders on a daily basis,” the bench said but also did not agree with attorney general Mukul Rohatgi’s suggestion that the seven appeals should be dismissed at the threshold.

The Centre questioned the affidavit accompanying appeals because it was signed by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and not a secretary, which is the usual practice. “This is against the rules of the business. The affidavit in the HC was sworn by the secretary, but here it is sworn by the deputy CM. Just because you are the deputy CM, you cannot flout the rules,” Rohatgi said.

Represented by a battery of senior advocates, the AAP government complained that the secretary concerned refused to sign the appeals/affidavits under the L-G’s instruction, forcing the deputy CM to sign them.

“No public servant is willing to sign the papers,” Venugopal told the bench. He said the appeals were aimed at resolving the issue if an elected government could work independently. “The LG has taken over the administration and tied the hands of secretaries,” said KK Venugopal, one of the lawyers representing the state government.

He argued the LG was Centre’s employee, enjoyed a master-servant relationship and was not qualified to govern Delhi.

In his counter, Rohatgi said the appeal was not maintainable because a minster cannot represent a Union territory and added that a nine-judge bench of the supreme court has already decided the issue of whether Delhi is a state or UT.