The Supreme Court Thursday refused to entertain the Delhi government’s plea challenging Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena’s decision to terminate the services of all civil defence volunteers working as marshals in DTC buses.
Saxena’s decision was one in a string of reasons for continued hostilities between the Arvind Kejriwal government and the lieutenant governor (LG).
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the AAP government, and asked him move the Delhi High Court, which shall decide the petition expeditiously.
All good schemes shoring up the government’s popularity are being stalled, Singhvi said. “Does this (terminating services of marshals) fall under LG? How can he stop it?” the senior lawyer asked.
“But why should we entertain it under Article 32 (of the Constitution)? Let the Delhi High Court deal with it. We have already dealt with constitutional matters (legal tussle between government and LG for control over services).
“The petition seeks re-operationalisation of the bus marshal scheme. In our view, the appropriate remedy would be to approach the High Court…In the event the petitioner approaches the high court, the high court shall take it up expeditiously,” the CJI said.
The LG had on October 27 approved a proposal to terminate the services of all civil defence volunteers from November 1.
Saxena had also directed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to consider recruiting the civil defence volunteers whose services were terminated as home guards.
The development had come after the chief minister asked Delhi Home Minister Kailash Gahlot to appoint civil defence volunteers as home guards and depute them as bus marshals.
