NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned LG VK Saxena’s authority of nominating the members to the MCD house without the aid and advice of the council of ministers. “Show us the source of power of LG to nominate the aldermen. Does the Constitution recognise the power of LG to appoint aldermen?” CJI DY Chandrachud asked ASG Sanjay Jain for LG Saxena.
Saxena in January nominated 10 members to the corporation under Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 and had also issued a gazette notification. It said that in exercise of the powers conferred by the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (66 of 1957), the LG hereby nominates the following persons to be represented in the MCD for 2022-2027.
Senior Advocate AM Singhvi for GNCTD said that the members were nominated without the aid and advice of the assembly. “There are 12 zones in MCD. They have 12 committees and the 10 he appointed can be nominated anywhere in these 12 ward committees. Since 1993, this is the first time the LG has directly nominated them. There have been different governments at Centre and Delhi but they’ve all been appointed on the aid and advice.”
ASG Sanjay Jain said the governance of municipalities is independent of the regime of governance of the elected state government. Referring to the statement of object and reasons for the insertion of Part IX A of the Constitution by virtue of 74th Amendment, the LG in the affidavit said, “It clearly notes that the urban local bodies were not able to perform effectively as vibrant democratic units and were turning out to be weak for various reasons, including the failure to hold regular elections.”
Earlier too, a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud said: “Under what authority does the administrator nominate the members to the MCD without the aid and advice? This is to be exercised on the aid and advice.”
‘Under what authority members nominated’
Earlier too, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala while hearing GNCTD’s plea challenging the appointment of aldermen said, “Under what authority does the administrator nominate the members to MCD without the aid and advice.”