Alderman can be appointed in MCT without LG consultation… Big blow to AAP from Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has delivered its judgment on a plea by the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government that Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena appointed ten aldermen in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without consulting the state cabinet. Aam Aadmi Party has suffered a major blow in the Supreme Court. He rejected the Delhi government's plea. The Delhi government claimed that the LG had appointed them arbitrarily without consultation. The Supreme Court ruled that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has the power to appoint aldermen to the Delhi Corporation without the aid and advice of the Delhi government. The court held that this power was a statutory power under the Delhi Municipal Corporation (TMC) Act, 1993 and therefore the Governor was not required to act with the aid and advice of the Delhi government. Since it was a statutory authority and not an administrative authority, the LG was expected to act on statutory orders and not on the aid and advice of the Delhi government. What was the Supreme Court's opinion? The Supreme Court has said that the Lt. Governor can independently nominate 10 aldermen to the MCT. It is wrong to say that Delhi LG's power is a semantic lottery. LG may appoint directly without consultation. It is a law made by the Parliament which satisfies the discretion of the LG to exercise as per the law which he has to do and which falls under the exception to Article 239. The TMC Act of 1993 was the first to grant LGs the power to preemptively nominate, which is not a symbol. Taking into consideration the judgment of the Constitution Bench, the Supreme Court said that the LG will nominate 10 persons with special knowledge to the MCD under Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the TMC Act. The question is whether he is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. Earlier it was believed that if the Parliament makes a law with respect to a matter in Lists 2 and 3, the executive power of the GNCTD would be limited. In this regard, we will deal with the scope of the NCT Act. What are the allegations made by AAP against LG? Last year, the Delhi government took the issue to the Supreme Court when the Lt. Governor appointed aldermen (designated councillors) in MCT. The Kejriwal government claimed that the previously elected government was appointing aldermen in Delhi. Even now this right is with the Delhi government. The Supreme Court heard the case in May 2023 and deferred its verdict. After delaying the judgment for more than 14 months, now the Supreme Court has given this judgment.
