Establishing L-G’s Superiority

In effect, the Delhi High Court has firmly and categorically re-asserted Delhi’s status as a “Union Territory” for constitutional purposes – one that is ruled essentially by the administrator (in this case, the lieutenant governor) who is an appointee and agent of the Centre. Unlike the governor of a state, who is largely a symbolic figurehead except in some situations (as the Supreme Court recently reiterated), the L-G, according to the Delhi High Court, has the final say in all executive functions of the Delhi government.

On its own terms, this interpretation is not untenable. It is entirely plausible on a plain reading of Article 239AA. Other Union Territories, after all, are governed similarly and Article 239AA, according to the high court, does not in any way take away from the powers of the lieutenant governor. The high court also contrasts the lieutenant governor’s position under the Constitution to that of the governor who has to act solely on the aid and advice of the council of ministers in a state.

Merely because the interpretation is tenable, is it necessarily the right one? I don’t think so.