Explained: In Delhi Vs LG Case, SC Holds Govt Has Control Over Services, Not Police, Public Order, Land

In the Delhi government vs LG case, the Supreme Court delivered an important judgment.

In a nut shell the order means that the Lieutenant Governor will be bound by the decision of the Delhi government over services. However the powers related to public order, police and land will still be under the Lieutenant Governor, the Supreme Court held.

The matter was heard by a Constitution Bench comprising, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha.

The court disagreed with the view of Justice Ashok Bhushan who had in 2019 in a split said that the services were completely out of the purview of the Delhi Government.

"The ideal conclusion would be that GNCTD ought to have control over services, subject to exclusion of subjects which are out of its legislative domain....The legislative and executive power of NCTD over entry 41 shall not extend over to services related to public order, police and land. However, legislative and executive power over services such as Indian Administrative Services or Joint Cadre Services which are relevant for the implementation of policies and the vision of NCTD in terms of day-to-day administration of the region, shall lie with the NCTD", the Bench held.

The Bench said that the legislative assembly of Delhi embodies the principle of representative democracy. The Delhi Assembly is given powers to legislate to represent the will of the people. Hence Article 239AA of the Constitution must be interpreted in a manner to further the interest of the representative democracy, the Bench said.

"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 legislative and executive domain, the Ministers would be excluded from controlling the civil servants who are to implement the executive decisions," the Bench noted.

The Bench touched upon the legislative structure of Article 239AA excludes Entries 1, 2 and 18 of List II to Schedule VII (public order, police and land). The Union of India under whom the LG functions has the executive power over these three entities, the Bench said.

"The executive power of Union in a state over matters on which both union and states can legislate is limited to ensure that governance of state is not taken over by the union. This would completely abrogate the federal system of governance and the principle of representative democracy," the Bench said while emphasising that the Delhi government, similar to other states represents the representative form of government and any further expansion of the Union's power will be contrary to the scheme of the Constitution.