The Centre on Tuesday reiterated in the Supreme Court that the Delhi government cannot have “exclusive” executive powers as it would be against national interest. “No exclusive executive power is with the Delhi government and granting exclusive power would not be in the national interest,” Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told a five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The Bench is hearing the AAP government’s appeal challenging the Delhi High Court judgment, which upheld the administrative powers of the Lieutenant Governor. Singh also said that a Union Territory cannot be raised to the level of a state under the Constitution and it has to be administered by the President. “Designation does not change status. A UT (Delhi) remains an Union Territory and it is not equivalent to a state. The Lieutenant Governor is not equivalent to Governors of states,” the ASG told the bench, which also comprises Justice A K Sikri, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan. Singh said that every UT was to be governed by the President and the power of the President does not diminish with regard to Delhi. On the last date of the hearing, Singh told the court that the Constitution-makers never intended to give full statehood to Delhi. He submitted that the court could not enable through interpretation what the Parliament did not intend to. The Delhi Government had moved the High Court challenging a Ministry of Home Affairs notification, which claimed that it had conferred unprecedented powers on the L-G. The High Court had, in August, rejected the the AAP government’s stand.