Rights of elected govts cannot be usurped: Left

New Delhi: Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict that the lieutenant-governor (L-G) could not interfere with the policy decisions of the AAP government, the Left parties on Wednesday said the judgment once again showed that the rights of elected governments could not be usurped.

The Central government, however, sought to downplay the top court verdict, saying the constitutional bench has only underlined the special status of Delhi as not being a “state: in the conventional sense.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the apex court verdict had brought the misuse of power by the L-Gs and governors into “sharp” focus. “The role of L-Gs and governors and their misuse has been brought into sharp focus by today’s judgement. BJP’s charade of cooperative federalism and in reality destroying our federal structure is condemnable. L-Gs/governors cannot usurp rights of an elected state government (sic),” he wrote on Twitter.

The CPI echoed the sentiment and said the verdict was applicable to all the states.

“We welcome the SC judgment, which makes it very clear that the elected representatives cannot be ignored as they represent the people. The L-Gs and governors are selected by the president and the elected council. Though the order is for a particular state, it is applicable to all the L-Gs and governors. Even the Centre should take note of it,” CPI leader D. Raja said.

A senior Central government functionary, who did not want to be quoted, also said the judgment has made it clear that Delhi cannot frame laws which are in contravention of laws being implemented by the Centre.