Noting that the real power of administration must rest with the elected arm of the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Delhi Government has control over ‘services’ in the National Capital Territory, excluding the matters relating to public order, police and land.
A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud held that the Delhi Lt Governor shall be bound by decisions of the Government of NCT of Delhi over the bureaucracy, except the three subjects, ie, public order, police and land – on which the Centre exercises its authority through the L-G.
“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. If “services” are excluded from the legislative and executive domain (of the elected government of NCT Delhi), ministers would be excluded from controlling the civil servants who are to implement the executive decisions,” the top court said.
If the officers felt that they were insulated from the control of the elected government, it would dilute accountability and affect governance, said the Bench – which also included Justice MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha.
The Bench said Article 239AA – which created a separate assembly for the NCT of Delhi — excluded Entries 1, 2 and 18 of List II to Schedule VII (public order, police and land) from the power of the Delhi legislative assembly as the Union of India has executive power over these three entries. However, it said Article 239AA must be interpreted in a manner that furthered the interest of representative democracy as the provision was only meant to balance the interests of both Delhi government and the Centre.
The Bench disagreed with the view of Justice Ashok Bhushan (since retired) in the 2019 split verdict that “services” were not under the control of the elected government of Delhi.
Maintaining that the Government of NCT of Delhi was similar to representative form of governments in other states, the top court said any further expansion of the Union’s power would be contrary to the constitutional scheme.
