The Powers of Delhi Government

The Powers of Delhi Government
 

News: The Supreme Court of India has given the state government of Delhi complete control over administrative services in the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) drawing curtains on an 8 year long legal battle. (Powers pertaining to public order, land and police will remain with central government)
 

What is Article 239AA?

→ The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991 inserted Article 239 AA in the Constitution, giving special status to Delhi and establishing an Administrator and a Legislative Assembly.

→ The Assembly has the power to make laws for the NCT of Delhi, except for police, public order, and land. The L-G has dual control and can either act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers or refer a difference of opinion to the President. This power tussle between the elected government and the L-G has been a point of contention.
 

What issues were discussed?

→ The Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor have been in a legal battle since 2015 over control of “services” in Delhi.

→ The Supreme Court gave a split verdict in 2019, and a five-judge Constitution Bench has now delivered its verdict on the issue of control and whether officers allocated to Delhi come under the administrative control of the Delhi government or Delhi LG.

→ The case also included the constitutional validity of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2021, which referred to the Lieutenant Governor as the “government” in any law made by the Legislative Assembly of Delhi.
 

What did the court decide?

→ First, the court concluded that Delhi under the constitutional scheme is a Sui Generis (or unique) model, and is not similar to any other Union Territory. It said Delhi presents a special constitutional status under article 239AA.

→ Lt. Governor shall be bound by the decision of the Delhi government over services, apart from public order, police and land.

→ Central government had exclusive legislative and executive control over ‘services’ relating to public order, land and police as envisaged under Article 239AA.

→ If a democratically elected government is not given the power to control the officers, the principle of the triple chain of accountability (Political, Administrative and Public accountability) will be redundant.

→ The Centre had argued that the Constitution is a federal Constitution with a strong unitary bias as far as UTs are concerned. Contradicting it, SC said that Indian federalism is not unitary and any further expansion of the Union’s power will be contrary to the Constitutional scheme.

→ The SC brought about the principal of collective responsibility. The SC observed that the principle extends to the responsibility of the officers who in turn report to the ministers. When the officers stop reporting to the ministers the principle of collective responsibility suffers.
 

What are the grey areas?

→ The ultimate hiring powers resides with the Centre.

→ The Centre has Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre for Delhi and other union territories.

→ Grey areas still exist. For example, what happens if Delhi demands its own public service commission after this order? If they demand so, who will make recommendations, hiring in such cases.