New Delhi:

The Delhi Local Government Secretariat has written to the UK Home Secretary over the Delhi government’s “illegal conduct” and “concerted attempts” to “mislead” the courts to “influence” the judicial system, Raj Niwas official said on Thursday.

They said the Delhi government was trying to “influence” the judiciary by filing “motivated and premeditated” petitions and filing “manifestly false” affidavits.

However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said courts are a last resort in cases where officials do not follow the instructions of ministers. The lieutenant governor took no action against the officers, the statement said.

“Even after repeated instructions from the concerned ministers, Center officials failed to take action and the Lieutenant Governor also failed to respond to the requests of the ministers,” the government said.

In his letter, Chief Secretary to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena cited various cases in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court and the alleged “irregularities” of the Delhi government in its “dealings” with these courts.

“Recently, there has been a concerted attempt to mislead the Court with the apparent purpose of influencing the judicial system by filing motivated and premeditated petitions and attempting to gain the Court’s credence by providing manifestly false affidavits,” the letter claims.

The report said that “GNCTD (Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi) versus the Lieutenant Governor” has become the “general norm” rather than the exception in various cases before different courts.

“These attempts, besides misleading the court, are clearly an attempt to create a false media narrative in the public domain and defame the constitutional office of the Lieutenant Governor,” the letter sent to the Union Home Secretary with the approval of Mr. Saxena said.

Cases cited in the letter include matters related to infrastructure of Delhi High Court and subordinate courts, disbursement of funds by Delhi Jal Board and ‘Farishtey’ scheme, DCPCR, policy on classification of eligible and non-eligible wards related to GST 2021-22 .

The letter is intended to inform the Home Ministry about the progress of “avoidable litigation” in various courts in Delhi, it said.

The AAP government said it was quite “unfortunate” that someone was trying to encroach on the jurisdiction of the Delhi National Capital Territory government.

The Supreme Court made it clear that Delhi has a democratically elected government that is accountable to the people. Delhi cannot be included as a unit of the EU, the report said.

It added that in the spirit of cooperative federalism, the Union of India must exercise its powers within the confines of the Constitution.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)