553. Thus, there is no difficulty in comprehending the Legislative power of the NCTD as expressly spelled out in Article 239AA…”
(emphasis supplied)
26. Justice Bhushan also agreed that the phrase “in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories” cannot be used to restrict the legislative power of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. He held that the “phrase was used to facilitate the automatic conferment of powers to make laws for Delhi on all matters including those relatable to the State List and Concurrent List” except for excluded entries.
27. The judgment of the majority did not make a direct observation on the interpretation of the said phrase. However, the reasoning indicates that the phrase was to be considered in a broader sense. As noted previously, the judgment of the majority held that the executive power of NCTD is coextensive with its legislative power on subjects except the excluded subjects under Article 239AA(3)(a). This means that the executive power flows from the legislative power, that is, if NCTD has executive power on a subject in List II, it is because it has legislative power under the entries of that List. The judgment of the majority held that the Union shall have exclusive executive power with respect to NCTD only for “the three matters in the State List in respect of which the power of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has been excluded”. It was further held that in respect of “all other matters,” executive power is to be exercised by GNCTD. This would mean that NCTD has executive power on “all other matters”. This indicates that the judgment of the majority interpreted Article 239AA(3)(a) and the phrase “in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union Territory” to give legislative power to NCTD on “all
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