New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought Delhi government’s response in three weeks on Centre’s plea seeking stay on the High Court judgement which termed as suspect the notification clipping powers of the AAP dispensation.
In its May 21 notification, Centre had restrained the Delhi government’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) from acting against its officers in criminal offences and holding that the LG cannot act in his discretion.
Clarifying that there is no stay on observations made by the Delhi High Court single judge in the May 25 judgement, a vacation bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and U U Lalit said, “we are not inclined to go into the issue of stay at this stage and after getting the reply, we will look into it”.
The bench also issued notice and sought response within six weeks from the Delhi government on the appeal filed by the Centre against the High Court’s judgement.
The bench also said the High Court would hear the fresh petition filed by the Delhi government challenging the May 21 notification of the Centre independently and without being influenced by the observations made by the single judge in his verdict.
As per the notification, the Lieutenant Governor (LG) will have jurisdiction over matters connected with services, public order, police and land and he may consult with the Chief Minister whenever he thinks necessary on issues of services using his own discretion.
At the outset, the bench said that it is upto the Delhi government to decide whether they want to pursue the matter in the Supreme Court or the High Court as the issues are related to Centre’s notification.
The bench also suggested that the matters from High Court be transferred to the apex court.
“Let it be decided for once and all by the final court,” the bench said.
PTI
