May Pronounce Verdict On Delhi Govt's Plea Against LG's Power To Nominate Aldermen In MCD: SC

Last year, on May 17, the apex court reserved judgment on the Delhi government's plea against the decision of LG V K Saxena to nominate the members without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it may pronounce this week its verdict on a plea of the Delhi government challenging the lieutenant governor's power to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

The top court on May 17 last year reserved the judgment on the plea of the Delhi government against the decision of LG V K Saxena to nominate the members without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra made the announcement while hearing another petition of MCD mayor Shelly Oberoi, seeking permission that the civic body be allowed to exercise the functions of the standing committee.

"Singhvi, please wait till Friday, the judgement may be pronounced. We will keep it (the present petition) on Monday," the CJI told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for the mayor. The MCD mayor, in the fresh plea, said the standing committee of the civic body performs various key functions and any decision having an expenditure of Rs 5 crore, including the mid-day meal scheme for school children, has to pass through it.

The plea said the standing committee of the MCD is not functioning presently and the panel consists of 18 members, out of whom six members are directly elected by the civic body. The remaining 12 members are elected by an electoral college which includes 10 members or the aldermen who are nominated by the LG. The earlier petition on the issue is pending adjudication.

Earlier, the AAP-led Delhi government moved another petition challenging the LG's power to nominate the aldermen without the aid and advice of the council of ministers. While reserving the judgement, the bench said that giving the lieutenant governor the power to nominate aldermen to the MCD would mean that he could destabilise an elected civic body.

The MCD has 250 elected and 10 nominated members. In December 2022, 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.

Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, had said no separate powers have been accorded to the state government to nominate people to the MCD, and for the last 30 years, the practice of the LG nominating aldermen on the aid and advice of the city government has been followed. "LG never appoints aldermen in his own right," he had said, adding the nominations are always made by the President but on the aid and advice of the Union government.

A five-judge constitution bench in 2023 ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over all but three services - public order, police and land - and substantially clipped the wings of the Centre's point man in running day-to-day administration of the national capital.

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