For all the outrage expressed by the AAP regime over the Centre's refusal to surrender its authority over services in the light of the Supreme Court order, the Delhi government may not take either Union government or the Lt Governor to court over alleged contempt of court.
A clear indication to this was given by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday when he said he would advise the Lt Governor and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to go to court. “They have a confusion with regard to the court's order. We do not have any such confusion,” Kejriwal told reporters. He was responding to a question on whether the Delhi government would use the option of moving court over alleged contempt of court by the Lt Governor and the Centre on the issue of services.
The AAP government contended that the court order made it clear that the Lt Governor, the Centre's representative in the national capital, has jurisdiction over only three areas—police, law and order, and land. And, it is the elected government which is authorised to take decisions in all other matters. Hence, it says, the Lt Governor cannot be the final authority in matters of appointment and transfer of officials, and this power actually belongs to the Delhi government.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that it has only advised the Lt Governor, based on a reference received from him, to follow the law. This advice, it said, is based on the Ministry of Law's opinion that the constitutional bench has clearly ordered that the matter be placed before the appropriate regular bench.
“In fact, it would be against the law to take a final view on a matter related to services which is still pending before the regular bench,” the MHA stated.
“This is a strange interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment... Then they should not obey the order in entirety. They say they will obey the part on the Lt Governor's concurrence not required for decisions made by the Delhi government. But they will not obey the order when it comes to services,” said Kejriwal.
He said not obeying the Supreme Court's order amounts to contempt to court. “This will spread anarchy.”
The Delhi government had earlier stated that it had kept the option of approaching court over the alleged contempt of court by the Lt Governor and the Centre, and that it was consulting legal experts over this.
However, the strategy of the AAP government now appears to be to take up politically the issue of the Lt Governor not parting with the power to appoint and transfer officials.