Delhi govt, not LG, has power on administration of services: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the Delhi government, and not the Lieutenant Governor (LG), had legislative and executive powers over the administration of services, except for public order, police and land. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) described the verdict as a “historic victory for the people of Delhi”.

In its 105-page unanimous order, the SC’s five-judge constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, said an elected government needed to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected. It said the LG is bound by the aid and advice of the council of Delhi ministers, concerning matters within the legislative scope of the city government.

“A constitutionally entrenched and democratically elected government needs to have control over its administration,” the Bench said.

Referring to the triple chain of command to ensure democratic accountability, it said civil servants were accountable to the ministers and they, in turn, were accountable to Parliament or the state legislatures. The Bench said civil servants were required to be “politically neutral” and under the administrative control of ministers for implementing the day-to-day decisions of the elected government.
 

Thanking the SC bench, Kejriwal said the judgement ended an eight-year-old dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government triggered by May 23, 2015, Union home ministry notification asserting its control over services, which caused frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre’s representative, the LG.
 

The Delhi CM said his government would carry out a major administrative reshuffle to replace “deadwood, corrupt and inefficient” officers with “a lean and responsive” administration and take action against officers who “obstructed” public work. Hours after the SC verdict, the Delhi government removed services department secretary Ashish More, appointing former Delhi Jal Board CEO A K Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer, in his place.
 

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said his party respected the SC judgement but warned that a transfer-posting industry would spring up in the city. Officers will now be given postings based not on their capabilities but on how obedient they are to the CM, Sachdeva said.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who argued the case for the petitioners, said the verdict was a slap on the antics of the BJP. “What had happened was that the right hand of the Constitution framers gave to Delhi by drafting 239 AA, the left hand of the LG and the meddling central BJP-led government took it away. That has been righted and imbalance corrected,” he said.

The order comes in the context of frequent confrontations between the AAP government in Delhi and the LG’s office, including the excise policy, training of teachers in Finland, free yoga classes, mohalla clinics, transfer of bureaucrats, sanctioning of funds, control over the Anti-Corruption Branch, and the extension of power subsidy to consumers.