Delhi’s AAP govt filed 10 pleas against LG in SC in just a year

AAP has filed 10 petitions against LG in a year

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), to give the official name of the entity controlled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), filed 10 petitions against the Union territory’s lieutenant governor (LG) in the Supreme Court between April 2023 and May 2024, a search by Moneycontrol revealed.

The subject matter of these pleas range from constitutional challenges to the provisions on law on control of administrative services in Delhi  to directions for sending teachers to Finland for special training. In fact, in early 2023, the Delhi government faced strong criticism from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for spending over Rs 20 crore on lawyers to defend it.

The main reason behind the Delhi government  approaching the apex court instead of the high court is because of the pendency of a challenge to the GNCTD Act, 2023 which deals with the control of administrative services in the region.

History of the dispute:

In May 2023, a five-judge Supreme Court bench in a unanimous verdict ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over all services except for public order, police and land.

The constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud held that an elected government needs to have control over the administration. It said the Union territory of Delhi has a "sui generis (unique) character" and refused to agree with the 2019 judgment of justice Ashok Bhushan that the Delhi government has no power over services.

However, shortly after the top court's ruling, the Union government promulgated an ordinance effectively taking back control of administrative services. The ordinance became a law after Parliament cleared it in the monsoon session of 2023. The Delhi government has challenged the constitutional validity of this . The case is pending before the apex court, which is why the Delhi government is filing writ petitions in the Supreme Court whenever it runs into a wall in its confrontations with the LG. However, some of these petitions were filed even before the SC’s judgment in the administrative services case.

Moneycontrol takes a look at the key cases that have been filed by the Delhi government against the LG and the stage they are at now.

Appointment of DERC chairperson:

In April 2023, the Delhi government filed the first writ petition on the issue of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). The government would go on to file two more petitions pertaining to DERC. The first dealt with the procedure for appointment of a chairperson for DERC, the second challenged the delay in approval to an amendment to the act governing DERC and the last plea challenged the portion of the GNCTD Act that dealt with the powers of appointment of the DERC chairperson.

In August 2023, the apex court stepped in and appointed retired Delhi High Court judge Jayant Nath as the DERC chair. The court made the appointment after a continuous logjam between Delhi government and LG over the issue. In this particular case, just the plea challenging the constitutional validity of the law pertaining to appointment of the chairperson remains pending for consideration.

Teachers' training in Finland:

Filed again in April 2023, this petition was against the LG's approval with riders to send government school teachers to Finland for training, and prohibiting teachers from receiving foreign training in the future. The apex court issued a notice to the LG in the plea. The main contention in the plea was that the LG could not have added the riders or prohibited future training without the advice of the council of ministers. This plea has remained pending for over a year now.

Petition to re-operationalise Farishtey scheme:

Filed in November 2023, this plea sought for directions for release of funds by the LG to re-operationalise the Delhi government’s Farishtey scheme. The scheme extended cashless medical treatment for road accident victims. While the LG contended that he did not have any role to play in de-operationalising or re-operationalising it, the Supreme Court sought his response via a December 2023 notice. This plea too has been pending for over a year now.

Controversy over extension of tenure of Delhi’s chief secretary:

The Delhi government in this plea filed in November 2023 moved the Supreme Court against the central government’s decision to extend the tenure of Delhi’s chief secretary by six months. Since the appointment of the chief secretary is an action that needs to be approved by the LG, he was also made a party to the litigation. However, the apex court eventually ruled in favour of the Centre’s decision to extend the chief secretary’s tenure.

Appointment of lawyers outside of panel:

Every government and all governmental authorities have a panel of lawyers to which court cases are assigned. However, if the case is very important for the government, it engages non-empanelled lawyers. The Delhi government too has a panel of lawyers. However, it filed a plea in the Supreme Court alleging that the Centre and LG passed an order restricting its options to engage lawyers and senior lawyers of its choice. On the day of the hearing, the Delhi government alleged that the fees payable to lawyers who appeared for the government in past cases were stuck pending clearance from the LG's office. The court asked the LG and the Union government to clear these bills and not to make a "prestige issue" out of it. This case will now come up for hearing in July.

Appeals against NGT orders:

In 2023, the Delhi government filed two appeals against the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). One appointed the LG as the chairperson of the high-level committee to end pollution of Yamuna river and the second challenged the LG’s appointment as the chairman of the high-level committee to oversee the disposal of municipal solid waste. The Supreme Court in July 2023 stayed the order appointing the LG as the chairperson of the Yamuna pollution-prevention committee. Both cases are currently pending.