Union Territory of Puducherry, the Administrator and its legislature, respectively; and any reference in that Article to “clause (1) of Article 239-A” shall be deemed to be a reference to this Article or Article 239-AB, as the case may be.”
5. The Constitution Bench pronounced its judgment[1] on 4 July 2018. The judgment contained three judicial opinions. The opinion of the majority was authored by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in which Justice A.K. Sikri, and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar joined.[2] One of us (Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, J.) and Justice Ashok Bhushan delivered separate concurring opinions. The Constitution Bench dealt with the constitutional status of NCTD and the modalities of its administration based on the division of powers, functions and responsibilities of the elected government of NCTD and the Lieutenant Governor, who as the nominee of the President of India, serves as the representative of the Union Government. We shall discuss the principles laid down in that judgment in Section C of this judgment.
6. Upon deciding the interpretation of Article 239AA, the appeals were directed to be listed before a regular Bench to decide the specific issues. On 14 February 2019, a two-Judge Bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan delivered two separate judgments. The judges differed on whether “services” are excluded in view of Article 239AA(3)(a) from the legislative and executive domain of GNCTD.[3]
7. The matter fell for consideration before a Bench of three Judges. There, the Union argued that the 2018 Constitution Bench did not analyze two crucial phrases in Article 239AA(3)(a): (i) “in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union
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