Delhi-Centre row on services: SC to fix timeline on September 27, says it will be green bench

The Supreme Court of India. (File image)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will fix the timeline for hearing the contentious issue of the scope of powers of the Centre and Delhi government over control of services on September 27.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said it will be a "green bench" and no papers will be used in the proceedings.

The bench, also comprising Justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, said it would tentatively start the hearing the matter concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and Delhi government by mid-October.

The observation came after lawyers said a Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India U U Lalit will start hearing from September 13 pleas on the validity of the Centre's decision to grant 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) in admissions and jobs through the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.

The bench was informed that many senior lawyers appearing in the Delhi-Centre row case will be arguing in the EWS matter as well and they should therefore be accommodated. The court said it will list the matter on September 27 for directions on how it will proceed further, looking at the stage of hearing in the EWS matter.

Justice Chandrachud said there will be no use of paper and directed the registry to scan all the relevant material, including books, case laws and written submissions.

The bench asked advocates Shadan Farasat and Parmesh Mishra, appearing for the Delhi government and the Centre, respectively, to get their compilations ready and submit them to the court master for scanning and circulation.

On August 22, the apex court had said a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Chandrachud has been set up to hear the matter of control of services in Delhi. The matter had been referred to a Constitution bench on May 6.

The apex court had said the limited issue of control over services was not dealt with by the Constitution bench which elaborately dealt with all other legal questions.

"The limited issue that has been referred to this Bench relates to the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and NCT Delhi with respect to the term services. The Constitution bench of this court, while interpreting Article 239AA(3)(a) of the Constitution, did not find any occasion to specifically interpret the impact of the wordings of the same with respect to Entry 41 in the State List.

"We, therefore, deem it appropriate to refer to the above-limited question, for an authoritative pronouncement by a Constitution Bench...," it had said. Sub Article 3(a) of 239AA deals with the law-making power of the Delhi Legislative Assembly on matters enumerated in the State List or the Concurrent List.

On February 14, 2019, a two judge-bench recommended to the chief justice of India that a three-judge bench be set up to finally decide the issue of control of services in the national capital in view of its split verdict.