SC questions LG's 'tearing hurry' in holding MCD standing committee election

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday questioned the “tearing hurry” on the part of the lieutenant governor's office for holding the polls for the sixth member of the MCD’s standing committee and "interfering" with the electoral process.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan also asked LG VK Saxena to not hold the election for the post of chairman of Municipal Corporation of Delhi's standing committee till the next hearing.

The court was critical of the exercise of power under Section 487 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act by the office of LG for holding the poll for the member of standing committee on September 27.

"Section 487 is an executive power. Where do you (LG) get the power to interdict the electoral process. It is not for interfering with the legislative functions. It is the election of a member. What happens to democracy if you keep interfering like this? Democracy will be in danger," the bench observed during the brief hearing.

Section 487 of the DMC Act allows the Delhi Lieutenant Governor to intervene in the functioning of the municipal corporation.

The bench, which sought the response of LG's office in two weeks on the plea of Mayor Shelly Oberoi against the September 27 standing committee polls, told senior advocate Sanjay Jain, appearing for the office of LG, "We will view it seriously if you hold an election for the MCD Standing Committee chairman."

It said that initially the court was not inclined to entertain this petition as everyone would start rushing to the Supreme Court but had to issue notice because of exercise of powers under Section 487 of the DMC Act by the LG.

"Our initial view was why should we entertain Article 32 petition but after looking into the matter, we thought this is a matter where we have to issue notice, particularly in view of the manner in which the powers under Section 487 was exercised," the bench said.

"We have serious serious doubts about the legality and validity of your (LG’s) powers," it added.

The top court said that there are other issues also which it needs to go into with regard to certain decisions of the mayor.

Jain, counsel for the LG's office, said that he was raising a preliminary objection with regard to the maintainability of the petition because the elections have taken place and they can only be challenged by way of election petition.

He submitted that the mayor postponed the election to October 5 in violation of the court's direction of filling the vacancy within a month.

The bench said that it can read between the lines and see there was politics involved.

"The exercise of power under Section 487 of the DMC Act and the way elections were held in the absence of mayor was prima facie wrong," it observed.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Oberoi, said that all this was done for the post of chairman of the standing committee and they would hold the elections during the Dussehra break, when the apex court is closed.

The bench then orally asked Jain to not to hold the elections till the matter is heard next.

Oberoi, in her plea, contended that the elections for the standing committee was held on the directions of the office of LG and the municipal commissioner, who is an IAS officer, was made a presiding officer for the elections.

She has contended that only the mayor can decide the date, time and venue of elections for the standing committee.

The BJP had won the last vacant seat of the MCD's 18-member standing committee unopposed as the councillors of the ruling AAP abstained from voting.

On August 5, the apex court ruled that the law "expressly enables" the lieutenant governor to nominate aldermen to the MCD and he was not bound by the advice of the council of ministers in the matter.

The top court had rejected the Delhi government's plea challenging the LG's power to nominate 10 aldermen in the MCD without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.

The MCD has 250 elected and 10 nominated members.

In December 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party defeated the BJP in the civic elections, winning 134 wards and ending the saffron party's 15-year run at the helm of the MCD. The BJP won 104 seats and the Congress finished a distant third with nine.