The Supreme Court has recently issued notice in the Delhi Government’s plea seeking the quashing of notifications by which the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi appointed ten nominated members to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on his own initiative, rather than with the assistance and advice of the Council of Ministers.
A bench of Justices led by CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala heard the petition and scheduled the matter for further consideration on April 10, 2023.
The petition contends that nominations made by the LG in his own discretion, without the assistance and advice of the Council of Ministers, violate the constitutional scheme.
According to the petition, the appointments were made in accordance with Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (“DMC Act”), which states that, in addition to the elected councillors, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi shall include ten persons of not less than 25 years of age who have special knowledge or experience in municipal administration, “to be nominated by the Administrator.”
“It is important to note that neither the section nor any other provision of law says anywhere that such nomination is to be made by the Administrator in his discretion. As a result, according to the scheme of Article 239AA of the Constitution, the word “Administrator” must necessarily be read as Administrator / Lieutenant Governor, acting on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, and the Lieutenant Governor was bound to make nominations on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers,” the plea stated.
The petition also contends that the procedure used to clear the file for the nominations violated the Transaction of Business Rules, as amended in 2021, which state that a proposal must originate from the elected government and be presented to the Lieutenant Governor for his opinion via the Chief Secretary/Chief Minister. Following that, the LG must record his views on the proposal within seven days, and if the LG and the Minister of a department disagree, the LG “shall strive to resolve the issue through dialogue and discussion within a period of fifteen working days.”
Thus, the petition argues that the LG had only two options i.e., accept the names recommended to him for nomination to the MCD by the elected government and disagree with the proposal and refer it to the President.
The plea stated, “It was not open to him at all to make nominations on his own initiative, completely circumventing the elected government.”
The GNCTD was represented by Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The plea was filed through Shadan Farasat, Advocate on Record.
