Supreme Court reserves verdict on Delhi-Centre services row

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on the vexatious CentreDelhi government row over control of services in the national capitalA fivejudge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud heard Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate A M Singhvi for the central and the Delhi government respectively for almost fourandhalf days before reserving the judgementEarlier the constitution bench was set up to hear the legal issue concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and the National Capital Territory government over control of services in DelhiAlso read Fresh petition in SC challenging Bihar govts move to conduct caste surveyOn May 6 the top court had referred to a fivejudge Constitution bench the issue of control of services in DelhiThe plea by the Delhi government arises out of a split verdict of February 14 2019 in which a twojudge bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan both now retired had recommended to the Chief Justice of India that a threejudge bench be set up to finally decide the issue of control of services in the national capitalJustice Bhushan had ruled the Delhi government had no power at all over administrative services while Justice Sikri made a distinction He said the transfer or posting of officers in top echelons of the bureaucracy joint director and above can only be done by the Central government and the view of the lieutenant governor will prevail in case of a difference of opinion on matters related to other bureaucratsIn the 2018 judgement a fivejudge Constitution bench had unanimously held that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi is bound by the aid and advice of the elected government and both needed to work harmoniously with each otherThis 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