It should be noted that DMC act of 1957, was made at the time when Delhi was just a Union Territory of India, and therefore it was bound to give such a power to LG in respect of MCD. Under the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act of 1991, the Delhi became National Capital Territory of Delhi on February 1, 1992 with a Legislative Assembly. It brought the Council of Minister in the picture for the first time, and it was naturally expected that the federal structure provisioned by the Constitution of India would be respected henceforth, which the old laws must not be allowed to hinder.

The federal principle was respected until 2014, when PM Narendra Modi led BJP came to power at the Centre with majority, but in subsequent election in the last decade it lost the Legislative Assembly Elections to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). There is a history of one decade of the Centre interfering with the powers of the AAP led government in the state, and subsequent legal battles. In the last MCD election, BJP also lost its last 15 years of rule, and AAP got majority.

However, the Centre could not accept the defeats in elections and always tried to control Delhi and its politics through backdoor, by the powers of LG which it appoints, and further empowering LG by bringing law that redefined “government in Delhi” to mean “LG” not the elected government of Delhi as it was earlier legally valid.

It is in continuation of the Centre’s attitude, when in December 2022, AAP won the MCD elections winning 134 seats out of 250 in the House, while BJP could win only 104 seats, Centre became extra active. It is a history now to know how the election of Mayor was disrupted several times, and only after intervention of the Supreme Court AAP could get its Mayor.

Nevertheless, on January 3, 2023, LG issued a notification nominating 10 persons as aldermen under section 3 of the DMC Act of 1957. The next day there was a modification with two replacements. It was an effort to control the MCD through backdoor, which was challenged by AAP government of Delhi in the Supreme Court in March 2023 arguing that LG is bound by the ‘aid and advice’ of the Council of Ministers’ since Delhi became NCT of Delhi under article 239AA of the Constitution of India.

MCD is a house of 250 elected and 10 nominated (aldermen) members. Aldermen has no power to vote in the House, and therefore, it may look not so material as to control the House. However, in reality they may control, since Delhi is divided in 12 zones, and each zone has a Ward Committee. Each of the 12 Ward Committees need to elect a member to be part of the MCD Standing Committee in their first meeting. Aldermen can vote and contest as candidates to be elected in the standing committees. Six Standing Committees members are chosen directly by the MCD House after the mayoral election. These Standing Committees effectively manage the functions of the MCD, of which the Mayor is only a nominal head. Thus, the aldermen can control the MCD through backdoor, without being elected, and just nominated by LG, who is representative of the Centre. Therefore, the real issue in Delhi is who should politically control the state, the elected representatives of the people or the nominated or appointed officials by the Centre.

Fifteen months ago, the Supreme Court of India has reserved the verdict, and on August 5, 2024, it delivered its verdict that under DMC Act 1957, the LG has power to nominate aldermen without consulting the Council of Ministers of Delhi. The Verdict is merely technical sans the spirit of the Constitution of India, democracy, and the federalism.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices P S Narasimha and PV Sanjay Kumar held that DMC Act of 1957 gives the Delhi L-G the ‘explicit’ power to nominate aldermen without any requirement to consult the Council of Ministers of Delhi, and held that the nomination of 10 aldermen in January 2023 was a valid exercise of power.

It should be noted that in the case of NCT of Delhi vs Union of India, a 2018 Supreme Court verdict said that the Delhi LG was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers in all matters related to subjects under the state and concurrent lists (besides the three excluded subjects).

The bench of Justices PS Narasimha and P V Sanjay Kumar referred to a verdict of the five-judge bench in NCT of Delhi vs Union of India delivered in 2023, which said that the Parliament would have the power to legislate over subjects in the state list as well, when it comes to the NCT of Delhi. It held that DMC Act of 1957 covers this, and hence power given to LG of Delhi under this act is valid.

There is enough ground against this verdict that suggests a review of the verdict in the light of the 1957 act which was very old when Delhi was merely a Union Territory. The situation has changed with the constitutional amendment in 1991 which changed the status of Delhi with LG as sole administrator to NCT of Delhi when we have a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers. In 1957, there was no issue of federalism, but now there is, apart from the fate of democracy at state and municipal corporation levels.

Since Delhi is going to polls early next year, the Supreme Court verdict has started generating political heat in the National Capital. (IPA Service)