Supreme Court: The Supreme Court on Tuesday orally said that it is difficult to accept the Centre’s argument that the concept of federalism does not apply to Union Territories as Panchayats are also an example of decentralization of power. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Justice DY Chandrachud continued hearing on the Centre-Delhi government dispute over control of services for the fourth day.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central government, said “a fabricated impression” has been created that the Delhi government has no power. The Solicitor General said, ‘My fundamental submission is that we cannot ignore the fact that we are dealing with the capital of the country and the central government has a major role to play in its administration.’
‘Hard to accept’
He said, “The Union Territory represents the Union and is its extension and therefore there is no concept of federalism between the Union and its extended territory.” The bench orally said, “It may be difficult to accept your (Centre’s) submission that federalism applies only to the states and the Centre. There can be a different aspect of federalism between the Union Territories and the Union. It may not have all the features of federalism, but it may have some. The bench said that the concept of federalism is prevalent even in the Panchayats.
The court asked – what does the government want?
At the end of the hearing, the bench specifically asked senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, what the Delhi government wanted from this court. Singhvi said, “I am demanding my statutory rights in Entry 41 (State Public Service; State Public Service Commission) of the State List. I demand all my legislative rights under three entries (public order, police and land) out of all the entries in the State List.
‘Delhi government wants clarity’
Singhvi also said that we are demanding all executive powers with respect to entries under the State List where the Delhi Assembly is competent to make laws. He said the Delhi government wanted clarity on the issue of control of services in the national capital as this court too would not want a repetition of the dispute. The court will resume hearing on Singhvi’s reply on Wednesday.
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