MCD Aldermen: Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Kejriwal government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s decision to nominate ‘aldermen’ in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
Supreme Court decision on MCD Aldermen: The Supreme Court has given a big decision on the appointment of ‘Aldermen’ in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which has given a big blow to the Kejriwal government of Delhi.
The court has approved the Lieutenant Governor’s decision to nominate 10 ‘Aldermen’ in the MCD and said that the Lieutenant Governor does not need the advice of the Council of Ministers to nominate ‘Aldermen’.
Let us tell you that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s decision to nominate ‘Aldermen’ in the Delhi Municipal Corporation without the help and advice of the Council of Ministers. The Delhi government said that the LG has appointed them arbitrarily without consulting it. This appointment should be canceled.
Why is the Supreme Court’s decision important?
The decision of the Supreme Court (SC) is important because after today’s decision, the way for the formation of a standing committee in MCD will be cleared.
In fact, due to the ongoing dispute regarding aldermen pending in the Supreme Court, the standing committee has not been formed in MCD till now, because the nominated councilors called aldermen also vote in the standing committee elections.
It is also worth noting here that the approval of the standing committee is necessary for projects worth more than 5 crores. Due to this, many projects worth more than 5 crores are pending to improve the basic facilities. At a time when MCD is under question for failing to clean waterlogging and drains and expand basic facilities.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala had reserved its verdict in the matter on May 17 last year. Now a bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha has pronounced the verdict.
On May 17 last year, the Supreme Court had said that giving the Lieutenant Governor the right to nominate councillors 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 Aam Aadmi Party ended the 15-year rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the MCD with victory in 134 wards in the municipal elections. The BJP won 104 seats and the Congress finished third with nine seats.
The Supreme Court had said, ‘Is nominating expert people in the MCD a matter of such concern for the Center? In fact, giving this power to the Lieutenant Governor would mean that he can destabilise the democratically elected municipal committees as they (aldermen) would also have the right to vote.’
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, had argued that the Delhi government has not been given any separate powers to nominate people in the MCD and the tradition of nominating ‘aldermen’ by the Lieutenant Governor on the aid and advice of the government has been followed for the last 30 years.
The then Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing on behalf of the Lieutenant Governor’s office, had argued that just because a tradition has been going on for 30 years, it does not mean that it is right.