Centre wants Delhi-Centre power row to be referred to larger SC bench

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it has filed a fresh plea seeking reference to a larger bench a matter involving a Constitutional issue related to the control of services in the national capitalThe Delhi government represented by senior advocate A M Singhvi opposed the Centres plea before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha saying this will only create delay and such tactics cannot be allowedSolicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre said at the outset there are no facts to be controverted But I have filed an IA interim application stating that this matter DelhiCentre case may have to be referred to a larger benchSinghvi opposed the submission saying it amounted to seeking a review of the apex court order which had said the matter did not require reference to a larger bench and the only issue remaining between the parties was the dispute pertaining to control over services in DelhiWhat action has to be taken on IA can be decided when the Constitution bench assembles to hear it the CJI said adding that it can be raised at the time of hearingAlso Read Freedom of religion does not include right to convert people Gujarat govt in SCThe CJI also informed the lawyers that one of the judges of the fivejudge Constitution bench Justice Krishna Murari was unwell indicating that the proposed hearing on December 6 may get postponedOn November 11 the top court had said it will step back from the actual arena of political conflict between the Delhi government and the Centre and only deal with the Constitutional issue related to the control of services in the national capitalThe observations had come when Singhvi wanted to bring to the notice of the bench an affidavit by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in which he alleged that there was paralysis in administration as no bureaucrat was responding to ministers callsThe Centre had vehemently opposed Sisodias affidavit saying it was filed when the case was already fixed for hearingA fivejudge Constitution bench is scheduled to hear on December 6 the legal issue concerning the scope of the legislative and executive powers of the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party AAP government in Delhi over the control of services in the national capitalSisodia in the affidavit has told the Supreme Court that Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has derailed governance in Delhi by encouraging the recalcitrance of civil servants towards the elected governmentThe AAP government told the apex court that Saxena was running a parallel system of governance in the NCT of Delhi by taking unilateral executive decisionsOn September 27 the top court said a Constitution bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud now the CJI would commence hearing the matter from November 9 on a daytoday basisThe other members of the fivejudge bench are justices M R Shah Krishna Murari Hima Kohli and P S NarasimhaOn May 6 the top court had referred the issue of control of services in Delhi to the Constitution benchThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever