New Delhi: In a significant blow to the Delhi government, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) is not obligated to act according to the aid and advice of the elected Delhi government.
“The Delhi Lieutenant Governor has the statutory power to nominate members to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) and can exercise this power at his discretion, not based on the aid and advice of the Delhi government,” stated a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.
This ruling implies that the LG has the authority to independently appoint the 10 aldermen to the MCD. The bench, which also included Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, highlighted that Parliament has granted statutory power to the LG to nominate these aldermen.
Justice Narasimha, who authored the verdict, emphasized that once such power is conferred upon the LG, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government lacks jurisdiction over this matter.
The Supreme Court’s decision reaffirms its earlier stance in the Delhi versus Union case, asserting that Parliament holds the authority to legislate on matters related to the state and concurrent lists in Delhi, thereby limiting the scope of the elected government’s powers.
Pending since May of the previous year, the verdict addressed a plea by the AAP government challenging the LG’s unilateral decision to appoint 10 aldermen to the MCD without consulting the state cabinet.
The AAP-led Delhi government argued that allowing the LG to nominate aldermen without the elected government’s aid and advice could destabilize the civic body. The MCD comprises 250 elected and 10 nominated members.
In its plea, the Delhi government pointed out that this was the first instance since Article 239AA of the Constitution came into effect in 1991 where the LG bypassed the elected government in making such nominations. Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the AAP government, argued that the LG should either accept the names recommended by the elected government or refer the matter to the President for further consideration.
Singhvi noted that for the past 30 years, the practice has been for the LG to nominate aldermen based on the aid and advice of the city government. He highlighted that the MCD nominations file typically comes directly to the LG’s office as the administrator, but in this instance, the LG did not adhere to the principle of aid and advice from the state cabinet.
