New Delhi: The Supreme Court yesterday expressed its displeasure at the central government’s delaying formation of a government in Delhi, even as it was told that the president has given consent to invite the BJP for the purpose.
“Just before every date of the hearing, some statement is made about the attempt being made for the formation of a government but why things are not being done well before the date of the hearing?,” asked the constitution bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu, Justice H Chelameswar, Justice A K Sikri, Justice R K Agrawal and Justice Arun Mishra.
“Is it such a big issue for the Lieutenant Governor to take so much time to decide whether to do or not to do (a thing),” the court said, as it was told the president has okayed Lieutenant Governor’s Najeeb Jung’s suggestion to explore the option of forming the government by inviting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the single largest party in the assembly. “Suppose Lieutenant Governor is going to invite the largest party (BJP). Are they in a position to form the government?” the court enquired.
The central government sought to wriggle out of the situation, saying that after putting the Delhi assembly under suspended animation, it had a year’s time to explore the possibilities and the court could not issue any direction restricting the time available to the president in taking the decision.
But the court shot this down. “Our understanding was to give time to the Lieutenant Governor to decide. If you had told us that we (the government) cannot take a decision, we may have heard the (Aam Aadmi Party) petition and decided the matter either way,” the court said.
IANS
