New Delhi: The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has the power to nominate individuals with expert knowledge to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without aid or advice of the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The court was hearing a plea by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi, who challenged Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena moving to nominate ten aldermen in MCD. He has not sought the aid or advice of the Council of Ministers, The Indian Express reported.
The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said that statutory power under 3(3)(b)(1) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, to nominate persons with special knowledge was vested in the L-G for the first time by 1993 amendment of the DMC Act to incorporate constitutional changes.
Justice Narasimha read out the operative part of the judgement, “The power to nominate is therefore not a vestige of the past or power of the administrator that is continued by default. It is made to incorporate changes in the constitutional structure…”.
The court said that the text of Section 3(3)(b) of the Act, as amended in 1993, expressly enabled the L-G to nominate persons having special knowledge of the corporation. The context in which the power is located confirms that the L-G is intended to act as per the mandate of the statute and is not guided by the aid and advice of the council of ministers, the court added.