The Supreme Court on Friday (October 4) sought a response from the office of Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on a plea filed by Mayor and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Shelly Oberoi over election of 6th member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Standing Committee. A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan questioned LG's office to exercise exercise power to hold the election of MCD Standing Committee and issued notice to his office and posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.
What did the Supreme Court say?
During the hearing, the apex court expressed reservations on the manner in which the LG issued directions for holding the elections for the 6th member of the standing committee of MCD, saying, "What was the tearing hurry (in holding election in the absence of Mayor)".
Questioning the decision of LG to exercise his powers under Section 487 of the Delhi Municipal Act, the bench asked, "Where do you get the power to interdict it (election) under Section 487? 487 is an executive power it is not to interfere with legislative functions. It's the election of a member. What happens to democracy if you keep interfering like this?," asked the bench.
Section 487 deals with the powers of the administrator (the LG ) about the functioning of the municipal body.
Senior advocate Sanjay Jain, representing the LG, said that the Mayor herself postponed the election to October 5 and thereby violated the court's direction passed on August 5 to fill the vacancy within a month.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Mayor, urged the apex court to pass an order to halt the election of the Chairman of the Standing Committee. To this, the bench asked the LG's office to not hold elections for the post of chairman of the Standing Committee till it hears the plea and the apex court will view it "seriously" if elections are held in the meanwhile.
Justice Narasimha told Jain, "We are just telling you, don't hold the elections."
The petition was filed by Municipal Corporation of Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi challenging the election of the 6th member of the MCD standing committee held on September 27, which was won by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Oberoi's petition said that the election was unconstitutional and violated the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act and related rules. Oberoi in her petition claimed that the Standing Committee election was held on the basis of the directions of the LG and the Municipal Commissioner, an IAS officer, convened the meeting.
Terming it illegal, she said that only the Mayor of the MCD can decide the date, time and venue for the corporation meeting where the Standing Committee election takes place.
Election for the Standing Committee must take place in a corporation meeting presided over by the Mayor, however, instead of an elected Mayor, an IAS Officer was made the Presiding Officer of the meeting, which, Oberoi said, is grossly illegal and unconstitutional.
The vacancy of the 6th Member arose because of the election of BJP's Kamaljeet Sehrawat to the Lok Sabha.
(With ANI inputs)