New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said it might consider later setting up of a five-judge bench to hear the appeal of the Aam Aadmi Party which had challenged the Delhi high court order that the Lieutenant Governor is the administrative head of Delhi. A three-judge bench of the Apex Court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and also comprising Justices Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar was hearing the submission of the AAP government that the Constitutional issue should be needed an early hearing and the same should be adjudicated upon urgently.
The Apex Court almost assured senior advocates Indira Jaising and Gopal Subramaniam, counsel representing the Delhi government, that it would fix a date to hear the appeals after the bench finishes the lengthy hearing on the inter-states Cauvery water dispute. Senior law officer representing the Central government, Solicitor General (SG) Ranjit Kumar, told the Top Court that the appeals would be listed after the Diwali vacation.
On July 11, the apex court after hearing the plea filed by the Delhi government, said that this was “a very difficult and complicated problem” and would consider setting up the Constitution bench. On February 15, a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and RK Agrawal referred the batch of pleas filed by the AAP government against the High Court verdict — which had held that Delhi is not a state and that the lieutenant governor is its administrative head — to a Constitution bench.
