PIL on Delhi statehood: HC seeks copy of plea filed in SC

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked its Registrar to procure and file the copy of a petition seeking complete statehood for Delhi and Puducherry, which was disposed of by the apex court. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw sought the copy of the plea filed in the Supreme Court and fixed the matter for further hearing on 23 July. The court was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal seeking quashing of Article 239 AA and 239 AB of the Constitution and complete statehood for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. ‘The Articles 239AA and 239AB are being ultra vires to the basic structure of Indian constitution because they create structures which is neither a state nor a UT (Union Territory) and go against the basic concept of federalism,’ the PIL had said. The petition had also said ‘while the Constitution talks only of states as the primary unit of the Union, with a small area being placed among the UTs which possibly were found not fit to be governed through separate states and/or needed to be governed directly by the Union, these Articles 239AA and 239AB create such constitutional entities which are neither states nor UTs and are hence a structure completely unknown in the Indian constitution’.PTI