Delhi govt formation: SC defers hearing till October 10

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to apprise it by October 10 about the outcome of political process initiated by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung by writing a letter to the President on exploring the possibility of government formation in Delhi.

A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Justice HL Dattu, said that it is not going to keep this matter pending for a longer period of time and asked the Centre to inform it about the decision to be taken by the President of India on the LG's letter.

"What is the possible time by which his Excellency would take a decision?" the bench asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narsimha, who was appearing for the Centre.

At the outset of the hearing, the ASG referred to the letter written by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on September 4 to the President seeking to explore the possibility of government formation in Delhi.

In his letter to the President, the LG had sought permission to call the single largest party (BJP) to take a shot at power though it is well short of majority in the Assembly.

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), raised the issue of horse-trading by the BJP for getting the numbers to form the government in Delhi.

The bench, however, said that it will not take on record the additional affidavit filed on this issue by AAP and asked Nariman to wait till October 10.

Referring to the LG's letter to the President, the ASG said that the political process has started again to explore the possibility of government formation in the national capital and four more weeks be granted for the same.

On August 5, the Apex Court had given five weeks' time to the Centre to take a decision on dissolution of the Delhi Assembly "one way or another", questioning it for continuing to keep the House in suspended animation when no party was coming forward to form the government.

The bench had also asked why the MLAs be paid from taxpayers' money for sitting idle when the Assembly had been kept in suspended animation.

On the petition filed by the AAP seeking dissolution of the Assembly, the bench had asked the Centre what steps it has taken to explore the possibility of government formation during the last five months.

It had, however, turned down the plea of the AAP which submitted that the Apex Court should pass order so that elections in Delhi are held along with that of four other states later this year.

The Apex Court said it is for the appropriate authority to take a decision.

President's rule was imposed in Delhi on February 17 with no party coming forward to stake claim for government formation after AAP government headed by leader Arvind Kejriwal resigned.

The petition filed by the AAP had sought a direction to the Lt Governor to dissolve the Assembly and hold fresh polls. It had challenged the decision to impose President's rule in Delhi on the recommendation of the LG alleging that it was done to protect the Congress leaders and former CM Sheila Dikshit from corruption charges.

The petition had said the order to impose President's rule was "illegal, arbitrary and in violation" of Article 14 of the Constitution as after the resignation of Kejriwal neither BJP nor Congress were in a position to form the government and they had already expressed their unwillingness in that regard.

It had further raised constitutional questions to keep the Assembly under suspended animation by ignoring the categorical recommendation of the majority government of the NCT of Delhi for dissolving the House.

The BJP had emerged the single largest party after the Assembly polls in December last year with 32 seats including ally Akali Dal's one MLA in the 70-member House.

The BJP fell four seats short of a simple majority and had refused to form the government, saying it did not have the numbers and will not resort to any "unfair means" to take the reins.

The AAP with 28 MLAs had later formed the government with support of eight Congress MLAs. AAP's strength has also come down to 27 after expulsion of party MLA Vinod Kumar Binny.

BJP's number came down to 28 in the House in May after three of its legislators--Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma--were elected to Lok Sabha. With the resignation of three MLAs, the strength of the Assembly also went down to 67.