Centre, Delhi govt told to frame services case issues

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre and the Delhi government to consensually frame the issues for the Constitution bench to test the validity of the new Delhi services law, which gave the Union government control of the Capital's bureaucratic set-up.

- Utkarsh Anand

Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, who heads the Constitution bench in the matter, asked the counsel for the two sides to prepare a list of common issues along with a compilation of judgments and documents within four weeks.

The Delhi services ordinance, promulgated on May 19, was replaced by a bill which was passed by Parliament on August 8. Four days later, changes to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act were codified into law, putting the control of the city's administration in the hands of the Centre after the President accorded her assent to the law.

A week after a Supreme Court Constitution bench ruled that the Delhi government has control over bureaucrats assigned to departments under its purview, the Union government, on May 19, issued the ordinance restoring to itself the power over "services" by making a raft of major amendments in the GNCTD Act, 1991.

In its May 11 judgment, the five-judge bench led by CJI Chandrachud had held that "a constitutionally entrenched and democratically elected government needs to have control over its administration,".