THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, August 5: The Supreme Court delivered a setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Monday by ruling that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has the authority to nominate aldermen in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha, and Justice J.B. Pardiwala, rejected the Delhi government’s argument that the Lieutenant Governor is obliged to follow the advice of the Council of Ministers in matters related to the nomination of aldermen in the MCD.
In its decision the bench stated that the amended Delhi Municipal Corporation Act of 1993 clearly grants the LG the authority to nominate individuals with specialized knowledge to the corporation.
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The Supreme Court reserved its judgment on this issue for nearly 15 months. On May 17 of last year, the Supreme Court stated that granting the Lieutenant Governor the authority to nominate aldermen in the MCD would imply that he could potentially destabilize the elected municipal body.
The MCD consists of 250 elected and 10 nominated members.
In December 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ended the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 15-year rule over the MCD by winning 134 wards in the municipal elections. The BJP secured 104 seats, while the Congress came in third with nine seats.
