In a major victory for Arvind Kejriwal’s Delhi government, the Supreme Court today held that the Delhi government has control over administrative services in the National Capital, excluding matters relating to public order, police and land.
Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha disagreed with Justice Ashok Bhushan’s view in the 2019 split verdict, where he said that “services” were totally outside the purview of Delhi government.
“If a democratically elected government is not given the power to control the officers, the principle of triple chain of accountability will be redundant. If the officers stop reporting to the Ministers or do not abide by their directions, the principle of collective responsibility is affected,” the bench said.
The bench said the legislative assembly of Delhi embodies the principle of representative democracy and thus, Article 239AA must be interpreted in a manner to further the interest of representative democracy.
The court emphasized that Article 239AA is meant to balance the interests between Delhi government and Union of India.
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