Supreme Court asks Delhi CM Kejriwal and L-G Saxena to 'rise above political bickering and govern'

The Supreme Court on Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to sit together, discuss and come to a conclusion unanimously on the next Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chief, saying that the two constitutional functionaries should rise above ''political bickering''.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra said that they will take up the issue and weigh on it again on Thursday. The bench further asked the counsel for the city government and the LG to notify Kejriwal and Saxena of today's development in the court.

“Does everything run through modalities of the Supreme Court? They both are constitutional functionaries. Can’t the LG and Chief Minister sit and come up with a name on which both agree,” the bench asked.

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“So much of the work of government happens away from the public eye. We are not so much concerned about DERC Chairperson appointment which will be done. We are on the larger issue. You both can sit together and sort out some issues,” it said, while posting the matter of the DERC Chairperson's appointment for the hearing on Thursday.

CJI, during the hearing, while describing ways to come to a unanimous decision, said that one way was if one functionary gives a list of three names and the other functionary accepts one name. “We don't want to step into this. We want you both to sit down and do this,” the bench added.

“The two constitutional functionaries have to rise above political bickering and they should give a name for the DERC chairperson,” the bench said.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition that was filed by the Delhi government relating to the appointment of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) Chairperson.

The top court had said on July 4 that it will inspect the constitutional facts of a provision of the Centre's recent rule overseeing appointments, such as that of the DERC chairperson. The Delhi government recently informed the court that the oath-taking of Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar as chief of the national capital's electricity regulatory authority stands shelved.

The bench had remarked that the petition presents a point of law about the validity of Section 45D of the GNCTD Act, as amended by the latest Ordinance issued by the Centre, which gives overriding powers to the Lieutenant Governor over the elected government in the matter of appointments.

(With inputs from agencies)

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