- The Supreme Court held that the authority of the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of Delhi to nominate 10 persons with special knowledge of municipal administration to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is a statutory duty attached to his office and he is not bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
- The SC held that the L-G’s power is drawn from Section 3(3)(b)(1) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, which was amended in 1993 to vest the power to nominate 10 expert persons.
- The Bench referred to a Constitution Bench judgment established that the executive power of the Delhi government would conform to a parliamentary law dealing with subjects in the State.
- The court disagreed with the argument that the L-G’s power was merely semantic and outdated.
| Delhi’s Unique Governance Model • Delhi’s administration features a dual governance model involving both the central and state governments. • Article 239AA inserted in the Constitution by the 69th Amendment Act, 1991, which conferred special status on Delhi following the recommendations of the S Balakrishnan Committee that was set up in 1987 to look into Delhi’s demands for statehood. • NCT of Delhi will have an administrator and a Legislative Assembly. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Legislative Assembly, “shall have the power to make laws for the whole or any part of the NCT with respect to any of the matters in the State List or Concurrent List in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories,” except on the subjects of police, public order, and land. • Parliament also passed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, to provide a framework for the functioning of the Assembly and the government of Delhi. |
Dig Deeper: Read about various Constitutional Bench judgments with respect to Delhi governance.
