The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred to a Constitution Bench a batch of pleas filed by the AAP Government challenging the lieutenant Governor's (l-G) interference in the executive process of an elected government in the Capital.
A bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and RK Agrawal decided to refer the matter to a Constitution Bench of at least five judges after the Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar submitted that the issue required interpretation of Article 239AA and should preferably be dealt with by a constitution bench.
While referring the matter to the Chief Justice of India, the bench noted that the issue required urgent consideration as AAP government had approached Court claiming that every decision of the elected government in Delhi was interfered with by the office of l-G, thus hindering governance in the Capital. On the other hand, Solicitor General brought facts to Court to deny this claim. He presented figures to demonstrate that out of 3000 files dealt on an average by the Delhi government, only six to seven files remained pending with l-G and that too for clarification.
Considering the urgency, the bench allowed the counsels appearing in the matter to approach CJI for early constitution of the bench for hearing the case.