The Aam Aadmi Party Government on Tuesday told Delhi High Court that the petitions before it on the issue of interpretation of Article 239AA regarding powers of lieutenant-Governor on the governance of the national Capital be referred to a larger Bench
The plea was made in an application filed before a Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath by the Delhi Government, contending that since the issue “involves interpretation of the Constitution” and “raises substantial question of law of great public importance”, a larger Bench of the High Court should hear the matter.
Senior lawyers Indira Jaising, Rajiv Dutta, Bishwajit Bhattacharyya and HS Phoolka, appearing for Delhi Government, asked the court
to decide as a “preliminary issue” whether the petitions have to be referred to a larger bench.
They contended that the Centre was trying to interpret Article 239AA to mean that Union government is the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi and “if that interpretation is accepted, then a democratically elected government will be reduced to zero”.
“What is the status of the elected government of DelhiIJ” Jaising asked and added “it requires interpretation of Constitutional provisions, especially 239AA. Hence, it needs to be referred to a larger bench”.
The senior lawyers also contended that there have been two contradicting verdicts from high court on the issue due to which, it should be referred to a larger Bench.