Government of of Delhi versus Union of India Another [ 2357 of 2017] is a civil appeal heard before the Supreme Court of India by a five-judge constitution bench of the court. The case was filed as an appeal to an August2016 verdict of the Delhi High Court that ruled that the lieutenant governor of Delhi exercised "complete control of all matters regarding National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi", and was heard by the Supreme Court in November and December2017.
The supreme court pronounced its judgment on 4 July2018; it said the lieutenant governor of Delhi had no independent decision-making powers and was bound to follow the "aid and advice" of the Delhi chief-minister-headed council of ministers of the Government of Delhi on all matters except those pertaining to police, public order and land. The verdict was positively received almost unanimously by politicians from multiple parties.
Background The Government of India Act 1919 and the Government of India Act 1935 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom during the British rule in India classified Delhi as a chief commissioner's province, which meant Delhi was directly ruled by the governor-general through his or her representative, the chief commissioner. The chief commissioner of Delhi used to be an appointed civil servant and reported directly to the governor-general.
After India's independence and with the passing of the Government of Part C States Act, 1951, Delhi was classified as a Part C state, with an appointed chief commissioner and an elected chief minister-led council of ministers, which had powers over "public utilities, sanitation, water supply et al.", that was accountable and responsible to the Delhi Legislative Assembly. but not over 'police', 'public order', 'land' et al.
After the passing of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956 on the recommendations of the Fazal Ali-headed States Reorganisation Commission, however, states were reorganised; tier-classification of states was abandoned and top-level subdivisions of India were categorised as either states or union territories (UT),. Delhi was classified a UT; its council of ministers and legislative assembly were dissolved. To give Delhi some elected leadership, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Act, 1957 was passed by the parliament, establishing the now-trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Delhi, however, did not come under the Government of Union Territories Act, 1961, which allowed for legislative assemblies and councils of ministers in some large union territories. There were widespread demands for Delhi to get statehood and more elected representatives in its general governance.
As a compromise, the Delhi Metropolitan Council was formed in 1966 with the passing of the Delhi Administration Act, 1966 by the Parliament of India; the council had fifty-sixdirectly-elected members (called councillors) and fivemembers nominated by the newly created position of lieutenant governor (LG). The council had only advisory powers with regards to legislative proposals, budget proposals and other matters referred to it by the lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor succeeded the chief commissioner as the administrator of Delhi. The Delhi Metropolitan Council's chairman and deputy chairman acted as speaker and deputy speaker for the council, which elected a chief executive councillor and three executive councillors, much like a state chief minister and council of ministers elected by—and responsible to—vidhan sabhas.
After widespread demands for a legislative assembly, Delhi was granted further autonomy with the passing of the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 by the parliament, which established the Delhi Legislative Assembly, allowing for the reintroduction of the chief minister and the council of ministers, replacing the chief executive councillor and executive councillors, respectively.
Premise
In April2015, the Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) Najeeb Jung said it was not mandatory for him to send files regarding police, public order and land—his reserved subjects—to the chief minister's office. Jung was backed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in May2015 which through a government notification said the LG had the final decision on matters related to police, public order, land and services, adding that the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) could not investigate central government employees.
In June2015, while presenting the Delhi budget for approval to the Delhi Legislative Assembly, the deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia—acting as the finance minister—announced the government's intention to raise circle rates on agricultural land throughout the National Capital Territory of Delhi. In August2015, Lieutenant Governor Jung opposed the government's move on circle rates and stayed it. In response, the Delhi government reasserted its intention to raise the circle rate, saying the LG had no say on the matter and was bound to follow the government's aid and advice.
In August2015, the Delhi government ordered the creation of a commission of inquiry headed by retired Delhi High Court judge, S. N. Aggarwal to investigate the alleged CNG fitness scam that occurred during the chief ministership of Indian National Congress member Sheila Dikshit. The move was opposed by Jung, who referred the matter to the Ministry of Home Affairs, asking whether it was legal for the government to form a commission of inquiry without his approval. The home ministry later ruled that the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi was "not the competent authority to set up" an inquiry commission, thus holding that the Delhi government order was "legally invalid and void ab initio".
In December2015, the Delhi government formed a one-member commission of inquiry composed of former solicitor general, Gopal Subramanium to investigate an alleged scam in the Delhi & District Cricket Association. Lieutenant Governor Jung asked for the Government of India's opinion on the legality of the inquiry commission. Chief Minister Kejriwal maintained that the commission of inquiry was legal and asked the Government of India to move the Delhi High Court if it had any issue with the commission's formation. In January2016, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed Jung that the commission was not valid because the Delhi government did not have the power to form an inquiry commission because Delhi was not a state.
In August2016, at the Delhi government's behest, a division bench of the High Court of Delhi composed of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath ruled that the LG had "complete control of all matters regarding National Capital Territory of Delhi". The court also pronounced that all commissions of inquiry set up by the Government of Delhi were illegal, it also ruled that directions issued by the government to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and the directors nominated by it to the boards of private electricity companies were illegal. Further, the court upheld the May2015 Ministry of Home Affairs notification which ruled that the Delhi ACB could not investigate central government employees. The court, however, said the LG was bound by the aid and advice of the Delhi council of ministers on matters related to the appointments of special public prosecutors. Not satisfied with the high court's decision, the Delhi government ministers Kejriwal, Sisodia and Satyendra Jain decided to move the supreme court.
Civil servants In May2015, after the Delhi chief secretary and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer K. K. Sharma went on leave for ten days, Lieutenant Governor Jung ordered Shakuntala Gamlin, IAS officer and principal secretary in charge of Delhi government's departments of power and industries, to officiate as the chief secretary in Sharma's absence. This was opposed by Kejriwal, who accused Gamlin of lobbying for power companies. Gamlin wrote to LG Jung that industries minister Satyendra Jain was putting pressure on her in a matter related to industrial plots.
Anindo Majumdar, the Delhi government's principal secretary for its services department and IAS officer, was locked out of his office on the direction of the chief minister's office; the order added that Majumdar had been replaced by Kejriwal's principal secretary and IAS officer, Rajendra Kumar, and that Majumdar had been divested of all of his charges. The order, however, was declared null and void by Lieutenant Governor Jung, saying his approval for transferring Majumdar was not taken. Majumdar subsequently said he opposed the "politicisation" of senior bureaucratic appointments and refused to follow any "unconstitutional" orders from Kejriwal.
In June2015, seven officers of the Bihar Police joined Delhi ACB on deputation; in opposition to the move, Lieutenant Governor Jung said the ACB was solely under his jurisdiction, resulting in the officers not being assigned any tasks for months. This was followed by Jung naming Indian Police Service (IPS) officer M. K. Meena, an inspector general-ranked Delhi Police joint commissioner heading its New Delhi range, as the ACB's head. This was in contravention to Kejriwal's demands; Kejriwal had appointed deputy inspector general-ranked IPS officer S. S. Yadav as the ACB chief. In June2015, the Delhi High Court refused to set aside Meena's appointment but asked him to act in "accordance with law". Consequently, the Delhi government reduced Meena's mandate, asking him to look after training and cases undergoing trial. Yadav was asked to handle—among other things—investigations and functioning of the agency.
On 9 June2015, Jung vetoed Kejriwal's transfer of IAS officer Dharam Pal from the Delhi government's principal secretary in charge of its home and land and buildings departments, citing the April2015 home ministry notification that transferred the power over services to the LG.
In August2016, following the Rajender Prashad v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi decision of the Delhi High Court, the Delhi government-appointed Indian Revenue Service officer Tarun Seem, and a former engineer-in-chief of the PWD Sarvagaya Srivastava—non-IAS secretaries in charge of health and PWD respectively—were replaced by Jung with IAS officers Chandraker Bharti and Ashwani Kumar as principal secretaries for health and PWD, respectively. The move was opposed by Kejriwal, who said that deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, had "begged" Jung to not transfer health and PWD secretaries before March2017. Kejriwal added that files for the transfer of bureaucrats were not shown to him or any other minister of the government. In response, Jung's office said Seem and Srivastava's postings were illegal because they were in contravention with the Government of India's cadre rules, adding that even posting Seem to a position in the Delhi government was illegal because the LG's approval to post him was not taken.
In October2016, Jung gave IAS officer Alka Diwan the additional charge of being the Delhi Commission for Women's (DCW) member-secretary. Diwan proceeded to stop salary payments to contractual employees of the DCW and asked the commission's chairperson Swati Maliwal to regularise contractual employees by sending a proposal to the Delhi government's finance department. This led to Kejriwal asking Jung to remove her. Jung then replaced Diwan with another IAS officer Dilraj Kaur, conflicting with the wishes of Kejriwal, who had nominated the commission's legal adviser P. P. Dhal to act as the DCW's officiating member-secretary. This caused Kejriwal to compare Jung with Adolf Hitler.