Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung today hailed the Delhi High Court verdict which quashed AAM Aadmi Party government’s plea that the LG should function as per the advise of Delhi government. The court observed that Delhi is a Union territory to be governed by the Union government headed by the President of India. Addressing a press conference, Jung said the HC verdict is “historic”. He said the HC judgement was not a ‘personal victory for him. “It’s not anybody’s victory, it’s about Constitutional validity,” the LG said. He read out the important points of the judgement.
Taking a dig a AAP government’s contention that he works against the Delhi government, as per the direction of the Centre, Jung said, “Of course we report to the Central Govt but its wrong to say we work against Delhi government.”
“We did not go to court, they(Delhi Govt) went. We just read out the constitution in court,” he added.
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The high court on Thursday said that the L-G is the administrative head of National Capital Territory and the AAP Government’s contention that he is bound to act on the advice of Council of Ministers was “without substance”. The decision comes after months-long turf war between L-G Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath dismissed AAP Government’s plea challenging the Centre’s 21 May, 2015, notification giving absolute powers to L-G in appointing bureaucrats in the national capital. The court also quashed several notifications issued by Kejriwal after returning to power last year, saying they were illegal as they were issued without concurrence of the L-G.
(With PTI inputs)
