: In a new twist to the dispute between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over division of powers for administration of Delhi, the Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Union government on a plea seeking a stay on the hearing on a bunch of petitions arising out of the face-off.
The Delhi government has moved an application in court seeking a stay on the proceedings while contending that the issues involved in the dispute were of federal nature, in which the Supreme Court had an exclusive jurisdiction under Article 131 of the Constitution.
However, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said the Supreme Court itself had fixed a deadline for deciding the matters by July-end and added that it could not stay the hearing at the fag end of proceedings.
“Time has been fixed by the Supreme Court. We cannot stay the proceedings here,” observed the court, while asking the Centre to file its reply to the notice by May 9.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the Delhi government, said the petitioner was concerned about the apex court’s deadline and requested the court that the judgement not be passed on the batch of petitions.
The High Court observed that the hearing on the petitions was going on and it would like to hear full arguments, while the stage of judgment was far away.
No verdict will be delivered till next Monday, said the court, responding to the Delhi government’s plea for interim stay for a week.
The Delhi government had on May 28 last year challenged the Centre’s notification of May 21, 2015, giving absolute powers to the Lieutenant-Governor to appoint bureaucrats in the city.
Later, more cases on various aspects of the tussle between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party government were filed in the High Court.
The Aam Aadmi Party government had also moved the Supreme Court recently, seeking its intervention in the dispute with the Centre, while pointing out that the Union government, acting through the Lieutenant-Governor, had opposed most of the executive decisions taken by it.
HC says it cannot delay proceedings as date to resolve issues was fixed
by the Apex Court
