With the Supreme Court judgment on “services” matter, senior bureaucrats of the Delhi government said that the ruling will make a lot of difference in the administration of the city and will also make officers more answerable to the elected government.
With the court order, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s immediate focus will now be on schemes that were “stuck” due to bureaucrats, a source told The Hindu. “These schemes, including a scheme to teach yoga for free, expansion of mohalla clinics, and modernisation of roads, were stuck despite our efforts since the bureaucrats had directions to stop them,” the source added.
However, even after the judgment, the power tussle between the Central government-appointed L-G and the AAP government may not be completely over as the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2021, which gave more powers to the L-G, is still intact and the current judgment have to be read with this amendment.
The Delhi government has challenged the amendments in a separate case, which is to be heard by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.
The Amendment Act was passed by the Central government, after another five-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in 2018 held that except for issues of public order, police and land, the Lieutenant-Governor is bound by the “aid and advice of the Kejriwal government”.
“Since the Amendment Act, because of which all executive decisions need L-G’s approval, is still intact despite today’s order, the matter of services has to be read with it,” a senior officer said.
Another official said they have been discussing the issue with other officials and the current understanding they have is that all decisions do not have to go to the L-G now.
However, both officials said that they will have to wait and see how things unfold over the next few weeks to actually understand what will happen in terms of file movement.
A third official said that even though the Amendment Act is still valid, things have changed with the judgment on services. “Now everyone knows that their transfer, posting, and appraisal is with the AAP government, so no one is going to go against what the Chief Minister says, even if the Amendment Act says that you have to send all executive decision to the L-G for his approval,” the officer said.
A senior AAP functionary also had a similar view. “True, the Amendment Act is still valid and some officers may insist that all files [expect for services] have to be sent to the L-G for approval. But the with today’s judgment the balance of power has changed and despite the Amendment Act, officials won’t send all files to the L-G for his approval.”
“For the last one year, the L-G was communicating directly with the officials and many files were also going directly to him, bypassing the Ministers. But now, the officers know that we have the Services Department and they won’t go against the elected government,” the leader added.
Published - May 12, 2023 01:57 am IST
