SC shifts Constitution bench hearing on Delhi-Centre row over services to Nov 24

The Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed the hearing of its five-judge Constitution bench on the legal issue concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and Delhi government over control of services in the national capital.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli shifted the hearing on the request of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, and said that he will be unavailable on November 9 due to an official trip abroad.

The bench then posted the matter for further hearing on November 24.

On 27.09.2022, a 5-judge Bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha had stated that the hearing would proceed on a day-to-day basis from 9th November, 2022. Prior to that, the Constitution Bench had posted the matter on 27th September, 2022 to fix the timeline for hearing and indicated that it will proceed with the hearing tentatively from 11th October, 2022.

Earlier, the apex court on August 22 had said that a Constitution bench headed by Justice Chandrachud has been set up to hear the legal issue concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and National Capital Territory government over control of services in Delhi.

On May 6, the top court had referred to the Constitution bench the issue of control of services in Delhi.

The apex court had said the limited issue of control over services was not dealt with by the Constitution bench which elaborately dealt with all legal questions.