Following the Centre’s gazette notification, which placed bureaucrats under the lieutenant Governor’s administrative control and further intensified the ongoing tussle for power between Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the legal eagles seem divided on the issue.
A section of lawyers felt that there was nothing wrong in the Centre issuing a notification with former lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap, saying it has clarified the Constitutional position, while others feel that it was an exercise of power by the Centre which may not stand judicial scrutiny.
Holding that the issuance of the notification was “absolutely justified”, jurist and former Union law Minister Shanti Bhushan said, “Only the l-G has the power to post and transfer bureaucrats on the direction of the Central Government. The Delhi Government has no power at all in this regard,” adding that, “Kejriwal should realise that Delhi is a Union Territory — administered by the Central Government and the executive powers of the Delhi Government are limited”. Conceding with Bhushan, former judge of Delhi High Court and now a senior counsel in the apex court, Rupinder Singh Sodhi said, “ l-G was always right and the power of services are always with the President which are delegated to him.” Sodhi added, “Unlike other States, where consultation by the Governor with the Council of Ministers is mandatory, a UT has discretion which the l-G may exercise or not.”
However, beyond the legalities of the issue, the former judge said that the Government must function in a mature manner under the constitution and Delhi Government must run in a nonabrasive way between the two. Taking a contrary view, senior counsels KK Venugopal and Rajeev Dhawan disputed the validity of the notification on the grounds of its constitutionality.