In a fierce rebuttal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has called the BJP’s contempt petition against the Delhi Mayor ‘frivolous’, while vowing to challenge the legality of today’s MCD Standing Committee election. The AAP cited Section 76 of the DMC Act, which clearly states that the Mayor holds exclusive authority to preside over meetings and fix their schedule, asserting that the BJP violated these provisions.
Today’s MCD Standing Committee election suffers from following infirmities:
Hitting out at BJP, the AAP has stated that the MCD Commissioner order regarding Conduct of election for one (i.e. sixth) member of Standing Committee from the Corporation on 27.9.2024 at 1 pm at Civic Centre, is illegal, unconstitutional as it is a gross violation of the statutory scheme of the DMC act and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct Of Business) Regulations, 1958 apart from being contrary to the touchstone of a fair democratic process.
As per the Regulation 51 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct Of Business) Regulations, since the present election is the election to the member of the standing committee, therefore, the election has to be held in the meeting of the Corporation.
Regulation 3(2) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct Of Business) Regulations, 1958, which is clear that the power to fix date, time and place of the meeting of the Corporation vests solely with the Mayor.
It is important to note that Section 76 of the DMC Act which makes it clear that the Presiding Officer for any meeting has to be the Mayor and in her absence, Deputy Mayor and in his absence any other councilor. Therefore, under no circumstance can any other person (ie. Additional Commissioner etc) be appointed as a Presiding Officer as has been sought to be done by you in your Order in reference.
Further, it is important to note section 74 of the DMC Act and Regulation 51 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct Of Business) Regulations, 1958, which make it mandatory to give a list of business to each member of the Corporation at least 72 hours before any meeting of the House.
Solely in the above backdrop, it is clear that the order for election on 27.9.24 at 1 pm is illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires the statutory scheme of the DMC act and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct Of Business) Regulations, 1958.
It’s important to highlight that many Councilors have informed the Mayor that after the adjournment of the House for 05.10.2024, they have gone out of town, and therefore when your order was issued at 1 pm 26.9.2024, there is inadequate time for them to reach for the said meeting. In fact, most Councillors have not even received the meeting notice by 10am on 27.09.2024. Therefore, to expect them to attend the meeting at such short notice is not only a violation of their electoral rights as public representatives but it also violates fair democratic process apart from being in gross violation of Principles of Natural Justice.
In the above statutory backdrop, the Mayor has declared that MCD Commissioner’s directive issued for conducting the election for the sixth member of the Standing Committee on 27.09.2024 at 1 pm, is illegal and therefore ab initio null and void.
Under Regulation 23 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1958, the Mayor possesses the authority to adjourn meetings when necessary. On 26.09.2024, in accordance with this regulation, the Mayor adjourned the election to be held on 05.10.2024. This adjournment is legally binding, and any attempt to conduct the election on 27.09.2024 is a direct violation of this lawful adjournment.
