Supreme Court setback for AAP, rules L-G doesn’t need aid of Delhi ministers to nominate MCD aldermen

The Supreme Court of India on Monday rejected the Delhi government's plea that LG VK Saxena is bound to act on aid and advice from the Council of Ministers to nominate aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala rejected the Delhi government's plea that the LG is bound to act on the aid and advice of council of ministers in nominating 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The Supreme Court ruled on the Delhi government's plea after a nearly 15-month delay. On May 17 of the previous year, the court had observed that granting the LG authority to appoint aldermen to the MCD could potentially undermine an elected municipal body.

Reacting to the SC judgment, AAP said, “Will decide the future course of action after reading order”.

The MCD consists of 250 elected members and 10 nominated members. In December 2022, the AAP ended the BJP's 15-year dominance in the MCD elections, securing 134 seats, while the BJP won 104 and the Congress took nine.

Earlier, the top court had asked about the "source of power" of the LG under the Constitution and the law to nominate aldermen to the MCD without the aid and advice of the elected government.

The ASG had referred to the reply filed by the office of the LG and the constitutional scheme to assert the concept of 'aid and advice', in the context of the administrator's power to nominate members to the MCD, is different from the one which has been projected by the Delhi government here.

He had argued that the file pertaining to nominations to the MCD come directly to the office of LG as he is the administrator, and the concept of aid and advice is not applicable in this case.

Singhvi had referred to the 2018 constitution bench judgement of the apex court and its recent verdict on control over services to claim the LG has to act as per the aid and advice of the government. The senior lawyer contended the LG should have taken back 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 LG has directly appointed members in the MCD, and earlier, it was always based on aid and advice (of the government)," Singhvi said in this argument.

On May 12, last year, the top court observed that LG had to act on the "aid and advice" of the Delhi government's council of ministers in nominating 10 aldermen to the MCD.

(With PTI inputs)