For Arvind Kejriwal and Centre, One Court Hearing Ends, Another Later Today

New Delhi:  After days of aggressively circling each other, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Centre are not in detente. Their competing claims for who should call the shots in the capital is being heard today by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

Both cases are pivoted on a notification issued last week by the Centre, which sought to hem in Mr Kejriwal’s area of operation by expanding the powers of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who represents the union government in the capital.

The notification was tagged “suspect” by the Delhi High Court on Monday, saying that the Centre has wrongly stated that the Lieutenant Governor is not obliged to consult Mr Kejriwal about the appointments of bureaucrats; it also over-ruled the Centre’s declaration that its officers cannot be investigated for graft by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government.

These points have all been challenged by the union government in the Supreme Court, which has given Mr Kejriwal three weeks to detail his stand. The top court has also said that the Delhi High Court should not be influenced by the earlier remark of a “suspect” notification while it hears Mr Kejriwal’s case, which challenges the notification in its entirety.

That observation had greatly buttressed Mr Kejriwal’s claim that the Centre is blatantly trying to seize power in Delhi.

The Chief Minister has said his government will campaign for full statehood for Delhi, which is a union territory to end the tug-of-war for power with the Centre.