Services Row: SC To Hear Delhi Govt's Plea Seeking Quashing Of Centre's Ordinance, Interim Stay On Monday

The apex court on Monday will hear a plea by the Delhi government challenging the constitutionality of the Centre's ordinance over control of services in the national capital.

The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a plea filed by Delhi’s AAP government challenging the constitutionality of the Centre’s ordinance on control of services, reported PTI. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha is likely to hear the matter. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi had mentioned the matter on behalf of the AAP government seeking an urgent hearing on July 6. As per PTI, the AAP government in its plea said that it is an "unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat" that attempts to "override" the top court and the basic structure of the Constitution. Apart from quashing the ordinance, the Delhi government has also sought an interim stay on it. 

The Centre had promulgated the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, on May 19 this year to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has termed it as a "deception" with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services, reported PTI. 

The ordinance was introduced a week after the Supreme Court handed ruled in favour of the Delhi government over the control of services in the national capital excluding police, public order and land. The ordinance seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) cadre. 

Notably, the transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the LG before the May 11 top court verdict. 

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, in a unanimous verdict, had put an end to the eight-year-old dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government triggered by a 2015 home ministry notification. It said that control over services, holding the National Capital Territory administration is unlike other union territories and has been "accorded a 'sui generis' (unique) status by the Constitution.