The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) on Friday moved the Supreme Court against the ordinance brought out by the Union of India, saying that the ordinance, if passed, would completely sideline the elected government from control over its civil services.
Terming the Government of National Capital Territory (Amendment) Ordinance 2023, promulgated by the President on May 19 as an ‘unconstitutional exercise’ of ‘executive fiat,’ the writ petition contended that the ordinance would take away the powers of the GNCTD to control the civil servants working in the national capital.
It pointed out that the Ordinance was brought out a week after a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court pronounced that the Delhi Government had power over Entry 41 of List II (services).
Filed by Advocate-on-Record Shadan Farasat, the petition said the Union of India, by way of the Ordinance, had overturned the Supreme Court’s verdict.
It further said the Ordinance violated the scheme of federal, democratic governance entrenched for the GNCTD in Article 239AA of the Constitution and negated the principle of federalism and the primacy of the elected government.
As per the plea, the principle of collective responsibility in a democracy, as incorporated in Article 239AA(6) of the Constitution, required that the elected government be vested with control over officials posted in its domain.
The petition said in the federal context, this would require that such control be vested in the regional government, which was the GNCTD under Article 239AA, for matters in its domain.
The impugned ordinance sought to undo this essential feature, was secured for GNCTD by the Constitution Bench judgment of the Apex Court this year, alleged the plea.