The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that a plea on increase in the number of ministers in the Delhi Government from seven required consideration and posted it for further hearing on July 28.
The PIL on the issue said that the Delhi Government had 38 portfolios but only seven ministers to run the government even though there are 70 MLAs. “This is, by far, the lowest number of ministers in any state - the second lowest being at least 12 ministers in Goa and Sikkim with 40 and 32 MLAs respectively. Delhi has a unique status amongst all the States and Union Territories,” petitioner Aakash Goel said in his plea.
The plea, filed through advocate Kumar Utkarsh, also challenged Article 239AA of the Constitution that restricted the Council of Ministers in Delhi to just 10 per cent of the total legislative Assembly members.
This limitation, the plea said, was arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of the basic structure of the Constitution, and particularly undermined the principles of federalism, democratic governance, and administrative efficiency. The plea claimed Delhi was not similar to other Union Territories and by virtue of Article 239AA, it was accorded a “sui generis” (one of its kind) status, setting it apart from other union territories.
The bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela posed several questions to the petitioner’s counsel and observed that Delhi couldn’t be compared with other states as it held a “standalone” status with a special constitutional scheme and being governed differently.
