Hearing a writ petition filed by the AAP government, the court also upheld the Centre’s power to appoint the Chief Secretary of Delhi.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud held that the six-month extension cannot be construed as a violation of the constitutional distribution of powers between the Centre and the Delhi government.

The court said the chief secretary has significant functional responsibilities and overall administrative control and supervision over subjects, including land, law & order and police, which lie outside the legislative domain and executive powers of the Delhi government. In that sense, the position of the Chief Secretary of Delhi is “significantly distinct” from other Chief Secretaries.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to explain the grounds on which it wanted to extend Kumar’s tenure. In an affidavit, the Centre listed out the instances of extensions given to chief secretaries since 2013 and said all of them were granted under the 1958 Rules.

Kumar, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, was appointed to the post of Chief Secretary of Delhi in April last year. He was the Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh before that.

Kumar has had several run-ins with the AAP government. In his role as the Chief Vigilance Officer, he had initiated the enquiry into the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. This triggered investigations by the CBI and the ED and the arrest of two senior AAP leaders.

Previously, Kumar was chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Council (2015-2019). He also served as the Deputy Commissioner in East and South Delhi, and as Additional Commissioner and Joint Secretary, Urban Development Department and MCD.