Says it gave enough time to the parties, but nothing has happened, asks “how long can we go on like this?”
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its displeasure at the Central Government for delaying formation of a government in Delhi, even as it was told that the President has given consent to invite the BJP for the purpose.
“Just before every date of the hearing, some statement is made about the attempt being made for the formation of a government but why things are not being done well before the date of the hearing?” asked the constitution bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice H Chelameswar, Justice A K Sikri, Justice R K Agrawal and Justice Arun Mishra.
“Is it such a big issue for the Lt. Governor to take so much time to decide whether to do or not to do (a thing),” the court said, as it was told the president has okayed Lt. Governor’s Najeeb Jung’s suggestion to explore the option of forming the government by inviting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the single largest party in the assembly.
“Suppose Lt. Governor is going to invite the largest party (BJP). Are they in a position to form the government?” the court enquired, apparently making a reference to the number of legislators the BJP has.
The Central government sought to wriggle out of the situation, saying that after putting the Delhi assembly under suspended animation, it had a year’s time to explore the possibilities and the court could not issue any direction restricting the time available to the president in taking the decision.
But the court shot this down.
“Our understanding was to give time to the Lt. Governor to decide. If you had told us that we (the government) cannot take a decision, we may have heard the (Aam Aadmi Party) petition and decided the matter either way,” the court said.
“We gave you time. You could have said so (earlier). We are capable of taking decision whether correct or incorrect after hearing the matter. In a democratic system, president’s rule can’t go on like this – we could have said so,” Chief Justice Dattu.
His response came as Additional Solicitor General P.S.Narasimhan contended that the government had “at no stage we had told the court that we will decide” and the “powers of the president could not be restricted by the direction of the court”.
“With greatest respect at our command, we feel the government should have taken the decision earlier. All of us know that the matter is pending before the court and time has been given to decide,” the court said reminding Narsimhan that twice it gave time for taking the decision on Jung’s Sep 4 communication to the president on exploring the option of forming a government.
Expressing displeasure on the government’s dilatory tactics, Chief Justice Dattu said: “(AAP leader and lawyer) Prashant Bhushan is justified in saying that these people (government) are hoodwinking the court” as the court started hearing on AAP’s petition seeking the assembly’s dissolution and fresh elections as recommended by outgoing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The hearing will continue on Thursday. Reacting to the apex court’s rap, the Congress and the AAP demanded fresh elections. “If there is an iota of shame left in the BJP, they will dissolve the assembly and hold fresh elections in Delhi,” AAP chief Kejriwal told reporters here. “If elections are held, BJP will be badly defeated and AAP will win,” he claimed.
