New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear a Delhi government plea that its row with the central government on interference in the administration of the capital can only be decided by the apex court.
The plea was referred to another bench after the bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice Arun Mishra opted not to hear the matter as Justice Khehar recused himself from hearing it.
The court recorded the consent of both the central and the Delhi governments for the hearing on Tuesday, and directed its registry to place the matter before Chief Justice T.S. Thakur for necessary orders.
Later in the afternoon, senior counsel Indira Jaisinh in a mentioning before the Chief Justice's bench urged the court to hear along with Delhi government's present petition, its suit filed earlier questioning the central government's jurisdiction in stepping on and reversing many of the state government's crucial decisions.
The bench said the present petition and the suit invoking the original jurisdiction of the top court under Article 131 of the constitution for deciding disputes between the Centre and the states were two different things.
Article 131 says, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, that the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction in any dispute between the central government and one or more states.
Earlier when Jaisinh had raised the same plea before the bench of Justice Khehar and Justice Mishra, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi refused to consent to such clubbing of the present petition by the Delhi government and its earlier suit for hearing them together.
Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal government had moved the top court on July 1, after Delhi High court had reserved its orders on a number of contentious issues on which Delhi government is at loggerheads with the central government.
The Delhi government has said that it had raised the issue of jurisdiction even before the high court when it clubbed together some contentious issues and heard them on merits. The high court has already reserved the verdict.
Chief Minister Kejriwal's government wants the apex court to interpret Article 239A, the special provision with respect to Delhi, which is a state but not a full-fledged state.
The Delhi and central governments have been locked in a dragging row over issues of governance in the capital, which the Aam Aadmi Party rules.
