"Supreme Court Order Against Democracy": Arvind Kejriwal After Setback

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the  Supreme Court order on power sharing in the city goes against democracy and said his government will seek legal remedies. 

In a huge blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, the top court said that it is the centre and not the Delhi government that has the powers to order investigations against corrupt officers in the capital. Following a split verdict, the court left the decision on who controls Delhi officers to a higher bench.

Mr Kejriwal called the ruling "injustice to the people of Delhi". Claiming the court order states the elected government has no power to transfer officers, Mr Kejriwal sought to know how the AAP government will work and said the chief minister of Delhi does not have power to appoint even a peon. 

"We have been suffering for the last four years. For every work and for getting each file cleared, if the Delhi chief minister and his ministers have to hold protests and sit on hunger strike at the L-G house, how will the government work? What sort of democracy is it?," he asked.

Arvind Kejriwal's government had argued that the elected government should have the power to act against corrupt bureaucrats before the court said the Anti-Corruption Bureau will be under the central government's control.

Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, who were on the constitution bench, could not decide on who should have powers over officers in Delhi. Justice Sikri believed that the transfer of high-ranking officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above should be decided by the Lieutenant Governor

In July 2018, Mr Kejriwal sat on a nine-day-long protest in front of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office to push him into ending an alleged strike by bureaucrats.

(With inputs from PTI)