New Delhi, Aug 05
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Delhi Lt Governor’s power to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), saying it’s a statutory power conferred on him by Parliament and not an executive power.
A three-judge Bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala said that the Delhi Lt Governor can act on his own discretion in such a case and that he was not required to act on the aid and advice of the Delhi Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister.
It has come as a setback to the Aam Aadmi Party, which was at loggerheads with the L-G over various issues, including the control over the bureaucracy in the national capital.
Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Narasimha sought to draw a distinction between statutory and executive powers exercised by the Lt Governor. Section 3(3)(b)(1) of the DMC Act, 1957, provides that the L-G can nominate 10 persons with special knowledge in municipal administration to the MCD.
The Bench clarified that the power to nominate aldermen was a statutory power conferred on him by a law enacted by Parliament and he was not required to act on the aid and advice of the Delhi Council of Ministers in order to exercise this power. Almost 15 months after reserving its verdict on the Delhi Government’s petition challenging the Lt Governor’s power to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Supreme Court pronounced it on Monday.
Amid a raging controversy over nomination of 10 aldermen to the MCD, a Bench of CJI Channdrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala had on May 17, 2023 reserved the verdict on Lt Governor VK Saxena’s controversial decision to nominate 10 members (aldermen) without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.
While reserving the verdict, the Bench had said that giving such power to the Lt Governor will mean he can destabilise the elected civic body as they would get appointed to the standing committees and have voting power.
The MCD has 250 elected and 10 members nominated by the LG VK Saxena.
The AAP won 134 of the 250 wards in the MCD polls held in December 2022, while the BJP won in 104 wards. The Congress came third with just nine wards to its kitty.
The then Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the LG Office, had submitted that the 69th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1991 accorded a special status to the Union Territory of Delhi by making it the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Jain had said there were some powers under the Act which were entrusted to the administrator and some others were given to the government. The nominated aldermen didn’t have much power, he had said.
On behalf of the Delhi Government, Singhvi had contended no separate powers had been accorded to the state government to nominate people to the MCD, and for the past 30 years, the practice of the L-G nominating aldermen on the aid and advice of the city government has been followed.
The Delhi government had sought the quashing of the orders dated January 3 and 4 whereby the Lieutenant Governor nominated 10 persons to the MCD.
The Lieutenant Governor has “illegally” appointed 10 nominated members to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on his own initiative, not on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, the AAP Government’s petition alleged.
This is the first time since Article 239AA came into effect in 1991 that such a nomination has been made by the Lieutenant Governor completely by-passing the elected government, thereby arrogating to an unelected office a power that belongs to the duly elected government, it had said.
It had sought a direction “to nominate members to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi under Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, in accordance with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.”
