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2. Article 239AA(3)(a) of the Constitution stipulates that the Legislative Assembly shall have power to make laws with respect to any matter in the State List or Concurrent List insofar as any such matter is applicable to Union Territories except for certain excluded matters. Among the excluded matters are Entries 1, 2 and 18 of the State List and Entries 64, 65 and 66 of the State List insofar as they relate to Entries 1, 2 and 18. Consequently, the subjects of (i) Public order (Entry 1); (ii) Police (Entry 2); and (iii) Land (Entry 18) lie outside the legislative domain of the Legislative Assembly. The division of legislative power between NCTD and the Union of India as stipulated in Article 238-AA(3) is summarized below:

c. If any provision of a law made by the Legislative Assembly of NCTD is repugnant to a provision of a law made by Parliament, the law made by Parliament shall prevail. 5

3. Two Constitution Benches of this Court have dealt with the constitutional status imparted to the National Capital Territory by virtue of the provisions of Article 239AA of the Constitution. These are: 

 (i)       State (NCT of Delhi) Vs Union of India6


       (ii)      Govt. of NCT of Delhi Vs Union of India7
“85. […] The executive power of NCTD shall extend to all entries in List II and List III, other than the entries expressly excluded in Article 239AA(3). Such power shall be subject to the executive power of the Union (through the Lieutenant Governor) only when the Union has been granted such power by the Constitution or a law of Parliament. Therefore, the executive power of NCTD, in the absence of a law by Parliament, shall extend to all subjects on which it has power to legislate.” […] “95. […] The executive power of the Union, in the absence of a law upon its executive power relating to any subject in the State List, shall cover only matters relating to the three entries which are excluded from the legislative domain of NCTD. As a corollary, in the absence of a law or provision of the Constitution, the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor acting on behalf of the Union Government shall extend only to matters related to the three entries mentioned in Article 239-AA(3)(a), subject to the limitations in Article 73. Furthermore, if the Lieutenant Governor differs with the Council of Ministers of GNCTD, he shall act in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Transaction of Business Rules. However, if Parliament enacts a law granting executive power on any subject which is within the The proviso to Article 73 states that the Union of India shall not have executive power on matters over which the State can also enact on unless such power is expressly granted by the Constitution or law of Parliament. The proviso to Article 162 states that on matters over which both the state legislature and Parliament can make laws, the executive power of States shall be subject to and limited by the executive power expressly conferred upon Union of India by a law of Parliament or by the Constitution.
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of Police, the elected Government of NCTD would not have any control; d. After the insertion of Article 239AA, a proposal for the appointment of officers to these four posts was invariably moved by the Lieutenant Government to the Central Government in the Ministry of Home Affairs in terms of Rule 55(2)(b) of the Transaction of Business Rules; e. In terms of Rule 56, whenever a proposal is received under Rule 55(2)(b) from the Lieutenant Governor, the Central Government would have to take the appropriate decision; and f. Section 41 of the GNCTD Act deals with matters in which the Lieutenant Governor may act in his sole discretion and even prior to the amendment, it was permissible for him to act without aid and advice in all matters falling outside the purview of the Legislative Assembly, namely Entries 1, 2 and 18 of the State List.