Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday expressed his dismay over Delhi High Court’s scathing observation in relation to deteriorating civic amenities in the national capital.
Criticising the Delhi government and the municipal corporations to take steps to clean drains and prevent water-logging, the High Court on Thursday had said that it didn’t care much about who the government was.
According to Indian Express, while issuing orders ‘directly to the officials,’ the bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar told the counsel of Delhi government, Rahul Mehra, “We are not concerned about who is government and who is not.”
This was after Mehra informed the bench that senior bureaucrats were no longer under the control of the AAP government in the city.
Reacting to the High Court’s observation, Kejriwal tweeted, “This is strange. How can High Court not be concerned who is govt? HC says LG is govt and then asks CM to do the job?”
He added, “When HC has said that LG is govt, then HC shud summon LG for waterlogging.(sic).”
Kejriwal was referring to the earlier judgement of the High Court, which ruled that the Lieutenant Governor was the ultimate boss on all administrative matters relating to the governance in Delhi.
While ruling that that the Lieutenant Governor was the administrative head of National Capital Territory, the Delhi High Court had also dismissed petition filed by AAP government challenging powers of the LG in the state.
The Delhi government has now challenged the High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court.
The recent monsoon rains have wreaked havoc in the national capitals with severe water-logging being reported from across the city. Delhi has three civic bodies, all controlled by the BJP while the elected government of Kejriwal has diminished powers, more after the High Court’s own verdict of 4 August.
The LG, Najeeb Jung, has often been accused of working at the behest of his boss, the Centre’s BJP-led government. Kejriwal and his supporters have always alleged that Jung was following the instructions of the Narendra Modi government, which, according to them, was allegedly avenging the BJP’s humiliating defeat in 2015 assembly elections in Delhi.
In February last year, AAP had won a historic mandate by winning 67 out of 70 seats, while the BJP was could only manage to win just three.
