Calling the judgment a landmark victory for the people of Delhi and a big victory for democracy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has applauded the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday which observed that the ‘Lieutenant Governor cannot act independently unless where the Constitution allows and cannot be an obstructionist’.
Commenting on the historical verdict, the Aam Aadmi Party convener expressed his gratitude for the apex court judgment and called for a all Cabinet Ministers’ meeting at 4 pm at his residence. The meeting has been called to discuss critical projects of public importance which were blocked so far.
Hearing the matter of August 2016 High Court judgment in which said that LG as the administrative head of the Capital, later challenged by Kejriwal government, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra observed that ‘The relationship between Centre and State Govt should be healthy’ and ‘The LG must work harmoniously with the state, the LG and council of ministers have to be constantly aligned’.
ALSO READ: LG cannot be an obstructionist, observes Supreme Court
Stating that ‘Obeying the constitution is everybody’s duty and responsibility’ Chief Justice said that ‘LG can not refer all the matter to the President”. On point of full statehood, the bench said, ‘full statehood of Delhi is not possible’, however, ‘real power lies with the state government’.
Since Kejriwal came to power in the state, his government has been in tussle with LG. Be it Najeeb Jung or Anil Baijal, the relationship with then were anti-governance. In order to stop the tussle going on between the LG and Kejriwal government the Supreme Court said that ‘the relationship between Centre and the State government should be healthy’. Also ‘the State Cabinet must convey all decisions to LG, but his concurrence not required in all matters’, the court added.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court to decide today: ‘Who will govern Delhi’