NEW DELHI: In a big setback for the Aam Aadmi Party government, the Supreme Court today ruled that the Lieutenant Governor can nominate aldermen in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without the Delhi government’s aid and advice.
The Lieutenant Governor’s power to nominate members to the civic body is a statutory power and not an executive power, the bench said. The bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala reserved its verdict in the matter last year. The Supreme Court’s website earlier said Justice Narasimha will be pronouncing the verdict.
Justice Narasimha said Section 3(3)(b) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act lays down that the Lieutenant Governor can nominate 10 persons not less than 25 years of age and with special knowledge or experience in municipal administration.
“It is incorrect to suggest that power in Delhi LG was a semantic lottery. It is the law made by the parliament, it satisfies the discretion exercised by LG since the law requires him to do so and falls under the exception of Article 239. It was the 1993 DMC Act which first vested the power to nominate on LG and it is not a relic of the past,” he said.
The judge also said that a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had earlier ruled that Parliament can legislate on state and concurrent lists of Delhi. “As Parliament has conferred power on LG to nominate 10 aldermen, AAP government cannot quarrel with that,” he said.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has 250 elected and 10 nominated members. Currently, the ruling AAP controls it after winning 134 seats in the 2022 polls. The BJP holds 104 seats.
The Supreme Court said last year that giving the Lieutenant Governor the power to nominate aldermen to MCD would mean he could destabilise an elected civic body.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, the Delhi government’s counsel, had contended that the state government has been given no separate powers to nominate people to MCD. A practice of the Lt Governor nominating aldermen on the aid and advice of the city government has been followed for three decades now, he had said.
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Lieutenant Governor’s office, had argued that just because a practice has been followed for 30 years does not mean it is correct.
