Supreme Court Setback For Delhi LG Over MCD Nominations

The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed giving the Lieutenant Governor the power to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will mean he can destabilise an elected civic body, NDTV report said.

According to the report in NDTV, the Supreme Court wondered whether these nominations were of so much concern to the Centre.

“A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala made this observation while reserving its verdict on the plea of the Delhi government challenging the Lieutenant Governor's power to nominate aldermen,” it said.

It mentioned the MCD has 250 elected and 10 nominated members.

In December last year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) defeated the BJP in the civic elections, winning 134 wards and ending the saffron party's 15-year run at the helm of the MCD.

The BJP won 104 seats and the Congress finished a distant third with nine.

"Is the nomination of 12 specialised people in MCD of that much concern to the Centre? Actually, giving this power to the Lieutenant Governor would effectively mean that he can destabilise the democratically elected Municipal Committees because they (aldermen) will have voting powers also," the bench as per the report said.

“Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Lieutenant Governor's office said in the context of Delhi, it is pertinent to note that the 69th amendment came and GNCTD Act was notified, which collectively contain mechanism for governance of Delhi,” the report said.

It stated the 69th Amendment Act of 1991 accorded a special status to the Union Territory of Delhi by designing it as the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The bench told Jain his submission means that MCD is an institution of self-governance and that the role of Lieutenant Governor here is distinct from the role of administrator when he acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers under Article 239AA, it said.

Referring to the Act, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain said there are some powers which are entrusted to administrators and some others are given to the government, it added.

It said Justice Narasimha asked Jain whether he means the power conferred upon the administrator is independent of the state and cannot be given to the state government.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, said no separate powers have been accorded to the state government to nominate people to the MCD, and for the past 30 years, the practice of the Lieutenant Governor nominating aldermen on the aid and advice of the city government has been followed, it said.

"Lieutenant Governor never appoints aldermen in his own right," he said as per the report.

He as per the report also said the nominations are always made by the President but on the aid and advice of the Union government.