Delhi Govt Moves Supreme Court Against Centre's Ordinance

The Delhi government on Friday moved the Supreme Court against the Centre's ordinance over control of services in the national capital, officials said.

Advocates Shadan Farasat and Hrishika Jain filed a plea asserting that the ordinance transfers authority over civil servants working for the Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) from the GNCTD to the unelected Lt Governor (LG).

"It does so without seeking to amend the Constitution of India, in particular Article 239AA of the Constitution, from which flows the substantive requirement that power and control in respect of services be vested in the elected government," it said.

Earlier in the day, the AAP had announced that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will burn copies of the Centre's ordinance at the party office in central Delhi on July 3.

The party had on June 11 organised a maha-rally against the ordinance.

The Centre had on May 19 promulgated the ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of IAS and DANICS officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a circumvention of the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi, excluding police, public order and land, to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers.

Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the Lieutenant Governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex court.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Kejriwal and the senior leadership of the party will not participate in the protests and agitations against the Centre's Ordinance on the Delhi government on July 3 as the matter is now sub-judice in Supreme Court.