The Supreme Court on May 11 dismissed the Centre’s claim of superiority over the elected government of Delhi on the ground that the national capital is the seat of the Union Government and “national interests take precedence over and beyond the quibbles of local interests.
The Centre backed its argument on a narrow interpretation of a phrase — “in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union Territories” — in Article 239AA (3)(a) of the Constitution.
The Article, introduced through the Constitution (Sixty-Ninth Amendment) Act, 1991, declared the National Capital Territory of Delhi and its “special provisions”. One of its clauses said the Legislative Assembly of Delhi “shall have power to make laws for the whole or any part of the National Capital Territory with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List or in the Concurrent List in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories”.
