In
a unanimous judgement, a five-judge constitution bench headed by the Chief
Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud said that the real administrative power
in the national capital must rest with the elected government and the
Lieutenant Governor (L-G) shall exercise powers under the administrative role
as entrusted by the President.
The
Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over services, the court
said.
"Democratically
elected government shall have control over its officers," CJI Chandrachud
said.
"The
executive administration can only extend to the matters which fall outside the
legislative assembly but is limited to the powers entrusted by the President
and it cannot mean administration over the entire national capital territory of
Delhi (NCTD), " he added.
According
to the news agency ANI, Chandrachud said that if a democratically elected
government is not given the power to control the officers, the principle of the
triple chain of accountability will be redundant.
The
judgement highlighted that the states too have the power but the executive
power of the State will be subject to the law existing of the Union. "It
has to be ensured that the governance of States is not taken over by the
Union," it said.
Chandrachud also said that the Centre has exclusive
powers over List 1 and the state government has over the other two lists in the
Constitution. For the concurrent list, the Centre has power. "State too
has the power but the executive power of the state will be subject to the law
existing in the union," he said.