Supreme Court today agreed to hear on September 9 a batch of six appeals filed by Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government challenging Delhi High Court verdict which held that Lieutenant Governor is the administrative head of the national capital. A bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice DY Chandrachud fixed the hearing for Friday after Delhi government’s counsel Gopal Subramaniam sought an urgent hearing of these petitions.
On September 2, the Delhi government had informed Supreme Court that it has filed six different pleas challenging the Delhi High Court order and withdrew its civil suit on declaring the national capital as a full state. The court had allowed the AAP government to withdraw the civil suit and given the liberty to raise the issue in the Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) it has filed.
Earlier, the high court had held that Delhi will continue to remain a Union territory under the Constitution with the Lieutenant Governor as its administrative head. The High Court did not accept AAP government’s contention that LG was bound to act only on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers with regard to making of laws by the Legislative Assembly under the Article 239AA and termed it as without substance.