The Supreme Court has said that the lieutenant governor of Delhi must act on the advice of the council of ministers of the Delhi government when nominating 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). This came after the court had cut back the powers of the Centre’s representative in running the capital’s daily administration. The court was hearing a petition from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government challenging nominations to the MCD. The court allowed the LG’s office to file a fresh response to the petition. The government’s plea will be heard on 16 May.
The AAP government is challenging the LG’s power to nominate members to the MCD without the advice of the council of ministers. The government is seeking a direction to the LG’s office to nominate members to the MCD under Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, “in accordance with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers”. The government stated that neither the Act nor any other provision of law says that such nomination should be made by the administrator in his discretion.
The government claimed that it was the first time that such a nomination had been made by the LG without involving the elected government. It argued that this arrogated power belonging to an elected government to an un-elected office. Referring to the constitutional scheme pertaining to Delhi, it said that “administrator” must necessarily be read as “the administrator who is LG here, acting on the aid and advice of the council of ministers”. The petition emphasised that according to the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, apart from elected councillors, the MCD also has to include 10 people with special knowledge or experience in municipal administration, who are nominated by the administrator.
