New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday hailed as "historic" the Supreme Court's ruling that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over administration of services except for public order, police and land, and said this is a victory for the people of the national capital and a "slap" on the antics of the BJP.

In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud put an end to the eight-year-old dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government triggered by a 2015 home ministry notification asserting its control over services, holding that the National Capital Territory administration is unlike other Union territories and has been accorded a unique status by the Constitution.

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Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre's point man, the lieutenant governor, the apex court asserted an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi termed the judgement as "historic and colossal", saying it exposed the "nexus of unholy, undemocratic, ugly nature and the under belly of the BJP".

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"Today the BJP has lost on many fronts -- legally, morally, ethically and politically. In particular for the people of Delhi, the Union Territory will not be run by a nominated the lieutenant governor (LG) or an LG-controlled bureaucracy but Delhi will be run by representative democracy," he said.

He termed the judgement as "path-breaking" and said he had the privilege of arguing in the matter as a lawyer.

"Do not underestimate the NCT judgement. First and foremost I want to make it clear that it is not about politics. Today, the AAP is in power, tomorrow the Congress may be in power, the day after the BJP may be in power...The point today's judgement has made it is that it is a victory for the people of Delhi, a victory for the recognition of autonomy of Delhi," the Congress leader said.

He said Delhi is not only created as a Union Territory but it is the only entity that is given a constitutional special status under 239 AA.

"I say it is the victory for the people of Delhi because the special demarcated constitutional powers for a special entity like Delhi, the only one that has constitutional status, is being restored largely," Singhvi said.

"What had happened was that the right hand of the Constitution framers gave to Delhi by drafting 239 AA, the left hand of the LG and the meddling central BJP-led government took away. That has been righted and imbalance corrected," he said.

He said the "completely one-sided biased approach" has been stigmatised and quashed.

"In particular and the court has accepted all our arguments that if you are the representative ruler of Delhi and you don't have power over the services, will the public servant listen to a person who cannot appoint that person, or transfer that person, or make a recommendation about the person... It is a slap on the antics of the BJP," he said.

Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre's point man, the lieutenant governor, the apex court asserted an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected.

"The Legislative Assembly of NCTD has competence over entries in List II and List III (state and concurrent list) except for the expressly excluded entries of List II (Public order, police and land)...," the Supreme Court ruled in a 105-page judgement.

The top court said in the spirit of cooperative federalism, the Centre must exercise its powers within the boundaries created by the Constitution.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)