The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on August 5 regarding a plea from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government. This plea challenges the Lieutenant Governor’s decision to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala reserved its verdict on May 17 of last year. According to the apex court’s website, a bench led by Justice PS Narasimha will pronounce the verdict.
On May 17, last year, the Supreme Court commented that granting the Lieutenant Governor the power to nominate aldermen to the MCD could potentially destabilize an elected civic body. The MCD comprises 250 elected members and 10 nominated members. In December 2022, the AAP won the civic elections by defeating the BJP, securing 134 wards and ending the BJP’s 15-year control of the MCD. The BJP won 104 seats, while the Congress finished a distant third with nine.
The Supreme Court had questioned whether the nomination of specialized individuals to the MCD is of significant concern to the Centre. The Court remarked that giving this power to the Lieutenant Governor could destabilize democratically elected Municipal Committees, as these aldermen would also have voting powers.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing the Delhi government, argued that no separate powers have been designated to the state government for nominating individuals to the MCD. He stated that, for the past 30 years, the practice of the Lieutenant Governor nominating aldermen on the aid and advice of the city government has been followed.
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the Lieutenant Governor’s office, argued that adherence to a practice for 30 years does not necessarily make it correct. He emphasized that the file related to MCD nominations is sent directly to the Lieutenant Governor’s office as he is the administrator, and the concept of aid and advice does not apply in this case.
The bench had previously inquired about the “source of power” of the Lieutenant Governor under the Constitution and law to nominate aldermen to the MCD without the aid and advice of the elected government. Jain referred to the reply filed by the Lieutenant Governor’s office and the constitutional scheme to argue that the concept of aid and advice in this context differs from the one presented by the Delhi government.
Singhvi referred to the 2018 constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court and its recent verdict on control over services to assert that the Lieutenant Governor must act according to the aid and advice of the government. Singhvi contended that the Lieutenant Governor should have retracted the nominations by now.
“There are 12 zones, 12 ward committees, and aldermen can be appointed to any committee. For the first time in the last 30 years, the Lieutenant Governor has directly appointed members to the MCD, whereas previously it was always based on the aid and advice of the government,” Singhvi stated during his arguments.
On May 12 of last year, the Supreme Court observed that the Lieutenant Governor must act on the “aid and advice” of the council of ministers of the Delhi government in nominating 10 aldermen to the MCD.
In addition to seeking the quashing of the nominations, the AAP government’s plea, filed through lawyer Shadan Farasat, has requested a direction for the Lieutenant Governor’s office to nominate members to the MCD under Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, in accordance with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
