In a letter to Lt. Governor V K Saxena, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed his concern at the “unconstitutional” practice that 10 aldermen were nominated to the MCD without consulting the Delhi government. He claimed that this was a radical departure from accepted procedure.
In a related development, the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has also received a letter from the Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia requesting that he “desist” from taking any further action on the matter.
Experts in their disciplines are referred to as aldermen.
They cannot, however, cast votes in the mayoral election.
Prior to the mayoral election, the MCD received nominations for ten alderman.
The mayor and deputy mayor will be elected at the first municipal House following the crucial civic elections on December 4, when all newly elected council members will take their oaths.
Kejriwal said traditionally, all files pertaining to nominations under Section 3(b)(i) are routed through the Urban Development department which is the nodal department of the Municipal Corporation.
“Such files are required and have, in the past, always been put up to the Minister-in-Charge of the Urban Development Department / Ministry.
“It is, therefore, unfortunate that recently, in a complete departure from this settled practice, files were routed directly by the MCD – Commissioner to the Lieutenant Governor completely bypassing the Delhi government. This is contrary to law and the Constitution,” read Kejriwal’s letter to Saxena.
Sisodia also wrote to MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti over the “bypassing of elected state government” during the nominations of aldermen and directed him to desist from taking any further action in regard.
(With inputs from PTI)
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