Press Trust of India
New Delhi, July 4: Aam Aadmi Party government Monday made frantic but unsuccessful efforts before the Supreme Court to ensure that its lawsuit for declaration of powers
of Delhi as a state be heard along with its plea to restrain Delhi High Court from delivering verdict on a host of issues, including the scope of its powers.
The first effort was made before a bench comprising Justices J S Khehar and Arun Mishra.
Since Justice Khehar recused from hearing the plea for passing an order to restrain the High Court from delivering the verdict on scope of powers of Delhi Government which
still did not enjoy full statehood under the Constitution, the bench declined to go into the second plea of the
lawsuit.
“It is not for us to say anything on the separate lawsuit you have filed. We are not dealing with the matter. It means we are not going to say anything,” the bench said, when senior advocate Indira Jaising urged that there should be an order that both the matters be listed for hearing before an appropriate bench Tuesday itself.
Her plea was also objected to by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who said he was not giving his consent for listing both matters together as there was a proper procedure for it which the Delhi Government must follow.
He said such a plea can be mentioned before the Chief Justice who was still holding the hearing at the time. Jaising then entered into a minor
spat with Rohatgi over the procedure for seeking hearing of Delhi government petition Tuesday and said he cannot backtrack from his consent given earlier.