Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Thursday cancelled the appointments of 15 lawyers picked by the Aam Aadmi Party government to argue its cases in the Supreme Court, The Indian Express reported. The Arvind Kejriwal-led administration had appointed the three Advocates on Record and 12 arguing counsels following a December 2015 order by former additional law secretary Ravi Dadhich.

The appointments were cancelled as the relevant files showed the AAP government did not consult the Union Law Ministry’s Central Agency while making appointments, The Times of India reported. A senior central government official said the Union Home Ministry “intimated the government and the lieutenant governor’s office after it came to know about the appointments”. “Action was taken accordingly,” the official said.

Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain said the government had only come to know about the cancellations from media reports. “We are yet to look into the matter,” he said. The move will impact the state government’s ongoing cases in the Supreme Court, including its petitions against the Delhi High Court order which ruled the Capital a Union Territory under the administrative control of its lieutenant governor.

Delhi government senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra said the cancellations would deny the Kejriwal administration “access to justice”. “Is the Centre going to ask its panel lawyers [to] represent the Delhi government in the cases against the central government?” he said.

The move is the latest in the tussle between the government and lieutenant governor on the administrative control of the Capital. The Kejriwal government had moved the High Court after the Home Affairs Ministry passed a notification on May 21, giving “unprecedented powers” on matters such as public order, police and services to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. In its 194-page verdict, the court said that the Union Territory’s Council of Ministers needed to confer with the lieutenant governor before making key decisions.