The Supreme Court has ruled that the Lieutenant-Governor (LG) of Delhi has the power to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without the aid and advice of the Delhi Government. The verdict comes as a major setback to the AAP government amid the ongoing tiff between the Arvind Kejriwal-led government and the LG.
Dismissing the Delhi government's petition which argued that the LG is bound to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers in nominating 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said the LG had statutory power and not executive.
"The power to be exercised is a statutory duty of the LG and not the executive power of the State," the court held. The section 3(3)(b)(1) of the DMC Act 1957 provides that the LG can nominate 10 persons with special knowledge in municipal administration to the DMC. This power was introduced as per the amendment introduced in 1993.
The apex court pronounced its verdict on the Delhi government's plea after reserving it for nearly 15 months.
The Delhi government had claimed that the LG could not circumvent the elected government and make appointments to MCD on his initiative. It contended that the word "Administrator" contained in Article 239AA of the Constitution (Special Provisions with respect to Delhi) had to be read as Administrator/LG "acting on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers".
The MCD has 250 elected and 10 nominated members. In December 2022, the AAP defeated the BJP in the MCD elections, ending the saffron party's 15-year rule. The AAP won 134 seats, the BJP 104 and the Congress nine.