New Delhi: From time to time, there is a war between Kejriwal government and LG in the country’s capital Delhi. There was a war for a long time regarding the appointment of aldermen in MCD. But the Supreme Court has now put an end to it. The right to appoint aldermen in Delhi will remain with the LG i.e. the Lieutenant Governor. The Supreme Court gave a big blow to the Aam Aadmi Party government on Monday. The apex court said that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has the right to nominate aldermen in MCD. The Supreme Court’s decision has come on the petition of the Kejriwal government.
In fact, 15 months ago, the Kejriwal government had taken a petition to the Supreme Court. In May last year, the Supreme Court had reserved its decision on a petition filed by the Delhi government. The petition challenged the gazette notification, under which the LG had appointed 10 nominated members in the MCD at his own discretion, not on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. This decision was given by a bench of CJI i.e. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala.
LG’s decision on alderman is absolutely correct… Kejriwal government gets a jolt from Supreme Court, says- we don’t need your advice
What did CJI Chandrachud’s bench say
The CJI bench rejected the Delhi government’s argument that the Lieutenant Governor is bound to follow the advice of the Council of Ministers regarding the nomination of ‘aldermen’ in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). While delivering the verdict, Justice Narasimha said that under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act made by Parliament, the LG should act at his discretion. The CJI bench said, ‘Section 3(3)(b) of the Act (as amended from time to time) clearly empowers the Lieutenant Governor to appoint aldermen in the corporation… The power exercised is the statutory power of the Lieutenant Governor, not the executive power of the state. Because of this, the LG of Delhi can act according to his discretion.’
Setback to Kejriwal government
According to the Supreme Court’s decision, the Lieutenant Governor can appoint aldermen in the MCD without consulting the government. The court said that the Lieutenant Governor has this right in the 1993 Act. The Supreme Court clearly said that the LG does not need to consult the Aam Aadmi Party government. At the same time, in its petition, the Delhi government had said, ‘This is the first time since Article 239AA came into effect in 1991 that the Lieutenant Governor has made such an appointment completely bypassing the elected government, due to which an unelected office has the power that a duly elected government has.’
LG sahab will be overjoyed
Actually, the question was whether the LG is bound to accept the names recommended by the Delhi government for the alderman in the Municipal Corporation. After this decision of the Supreme Court, only the names decided by the LG in January 2023 for the Municipal Corporation will be valid. In this way, Arvind Kejriwal got a shock from the Supreme Court. At the same time, the LG will be very happy with this decision. Let us tell you that the Supreme Court had reserved the decision on this issue for about 15 months.
gave a hint last year
On May 17 last year, the apex court had said that giving the Lieutenant Governor the power to nominate ‘aldermen’ in the MCD would mean that he could destabilize the elected municipal body. The MCD has 250 elected and 10 nominated members. In December 2022, the AAP ended the 15-year rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the MCD by winning 134 wards in the municipal elections. The BJP won 104 seats, while the Congress finished third with nine seats.
Tags: Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi LG, Kejriwal Government, Supreme Court
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 5, 2024, 12:22 IST
