SC might hear appeals in Delhi-Centre row next week

The Supreme Court today said it might hear next week various issues, including the contentious one relating to the appointments and transfers of bureaucrats in Delhi, that have arisen in the wake of its recent judgment defining the powers of the Lieutenant Governor (LG).

The counsel appearing for the Delhi government mentioned the matter before a bench comprising justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan.

Advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, told the bench that it was a "serious matter" and the court should fix a date for hearing the case.

The bench said the matter might be taken up for hearing on August 16.

"We will see it on next Thursday," the bench said.

The plea, which was listed today for hearing in the regular list, was not taken up by the bench as it heard arguments in some other cases throughout the day.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had recently laid down broad parameters for the governance of the national capital, which has witnessed a power struggle between the Centre and the Delhi government since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in 2014.

The constitution bench had clarified that issues regarding various notifications issued by the Delhi government in exercise of its administrative and legislative powers would be dealt with separately by an appropriate smaller bench.

The Delhi government had submitted before the court that even after the verdict, the stalemate over the issue of public services was continuing and that needed to be dealt with by an appropriate bench.

In its July-4 ruling, the apex court had said that barring three issues -- public order, police and land -- the Delhi government has the power to legislate and govern on other issues.

There were two LGs --incumbent Anil Baijal and his predecessor Najeeb Jung-- with whom Kejriwal was at loggerheads, accusing them of preventing the functioning of his government at the behest of the Centre.