Delhi mayor moves SC against election of MCD standing committee member
The seat was won by Sunder Singh Tanwar of the Bharatiya Janata Party after polls that were boycotted by the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress.
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has moved the Supreme Court against the election of the sixth member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s standing committee, terming the conduct of the poll “grossly illegal and unconstitutional”, Live Law reported on Sunday.
The sixth seat was won by Sunder Singh Tanwar of the Bharatiya Janata Party during the election held on Friday, The Hindu reported. The seat had become vacant after the election of the BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat to the Lok Sabha.
The Aam Aadmi Party had boycotted Friday’s election after claiming that the polls were “illegal”. The Congress too abstained from voting, according to The Hindu.
In her petition, Oberoi claimed that the standing committee election was held on the basis of the directions of the lieutenant governor, following which the municipal commissioner, who is an IAS officer, convened the corporation meeting.
Oberoi said this was “illegal” as only the mayor could decide the date, time and venue for the corporation meeting to elect a standing committee member under Regulation 51 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Procedure and Conduct of Business Regulations 1958.
According to Section 76 of the Act, the presiding officer for such a meeting should be the mayor or the deputy mayor. However, an IAS officer was made the presiding officer, the petition said.
The poll holds importance as the standing committee plays a powerful role in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The committee has the power to grant financial approval to projects, appoint sub-committees and hold discussions and finalise policies. It has a total of 18 members. Of this, six members are elected in the House and the remaining 12 by ward committees.
On Friday, the BJP had also filed a contempt petition against the mayor in the Supreme Court over her failure to conduct the election to fill the vacancy in the standing committee, Live Law reported.
The petition said that Oberoi had postponed the election to October 5, which violated a direction issued by the court on August 5 to fill the vacancy within a month.
