The Centre completed its arguments in the spat over the administrative governance of the National Capital on Thursday while underlining that the executive power rested completely with it. A five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had orally indicated that there should be a harmonious relationship between the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi government.
The court had said that the difference of opinion between the two should not be trivial or contrived. This may run the danger of stonewalling governance in the Capital. The Lieutenant Governor could not stultify proposals or schemes forwarded by the Council of Ministers to him by simply sitting on it
LG not ‘Viceroy’
The Delhi government had argued that the Lieutenant Governor was not a “Viceroy” but simply an agent of the President whose powers depended on the pleasure of the President. The Centre had argued that it too was a government by the people. There was nothing undemocratic about the Union government and the President, through the Lieutenant Governor, exercising complete executive power over the National Capital, the Union argued.
