It was an unilateral appointment, Delhi government said.
The Delhi government on Wednesday told the High Court that the Centre did not hold a single meeting with it before the "unilateral" appointment of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) Vice Chairman. The submissions were made before a single judge bench of Justice V P Vaish by the Delhi government which claimed that due consultative process between the Centre and the Chief Minister as mandated in the NDMC Act, was not followed in the appointment of BJP leader Karan Singh Tanwar.
"Not a single meeting was held and no opportunity was given to Chief Minister by the Centre to discuss the merit and demerit of candidate for NDMC Vice Chairman," senior advocate Dayan Krishnan appearing for Delhi government said. He said that it is not a point that central government send us a name and we endorse it, there has to be a reasonable deliberation and debate on the issue of appointment of NDMC Vice Chairman, which is mandated according to law.
"It was an unilateral appointment. Why were they (Centre) shying away from deliberations? Why did they did not held a single meeting? Were some facts hidden," Krishnan asked. He said that the Centre is the final authority to issue notification but due process of consultation needs to be followed.
"No one is doing a favour by consulting us. It is the mandate of statute, which needs to be followed," he said.
Senior advocate Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, appearing for AAP MLA Surinder Singh, who has challenged the appointment of Tanwar said the notification for appointment suffered from irregularities.
"The notification of centre suffered from serious irregularities as there was no consultation between the chief minister and the Centre," he said. He sought quashing of appointment of Tanwar as Vice Chairman and said that Singh was a member of the Council and he has a right to be considered for the post of VC in NDMC. The bench after hearing the parties posted the matter for further hearing on September 9.
On August 7, the Centre had defended its decision to appoint Tanwar as VC of NDMC, saying power to nominate a person for this post fully vests with it and they have followed all due procedures.
The Centre had said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was given sufficient time to offer his views on the nomination of Tanwar but he failed to give his views.
"The Chief Minister of Delhi was given sufficient time to offer his views on the nomination... but he failed to give his views and accordingly, after having waited for long period (27 days), the notification was issued. It is submitted that there is no requirement for concurrence in this behalf," central government standing counsel Anil Soni, appearing for MHA, had said.
The Centre had said that the petition by AAP MLA Singh "is neither maintainable nor does it have any merit and deserves to be rejected at the threshold by the orders of this court". Tanwar has also filed a plea against the AAP MLA in the high court alleging that he has a fake graduation degree. Tanwar had lost to Singh in the last assembly elections from Delhi Cantonment constituency.
In its plea, Singh had said that the BJP-led government at the Centre had earlier rejected the name of senior AAP leader Gopal Mohan recommended by Kejriwal.
"Chief Minister had proposed only the name of Gopal Mohan and not any other person in exercise of powers conferred by virtue of section 4 of NDMC Act," the plea has said.
A three-time former BJP MLA from Delhi Cantonment assembly constituency, Tanwar was appointed as Vice Chairman of NDMC on September 7 last year but had to resign from the post to contest the assembly polls.
According to NDMC Act, the Council comprises 13 members, of whom four are nominated by the central government in consultation with the Chief Minister and three are elected. The rest are officers with central and Delhi governments. The elected members include BJP MP from New Delhi Meenakshi Lekhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Singh.
"As per NDMC Act, to be a Vice Chairman, one should first be the member of NDMC, which the former BJP MLA was not. Moreover to be a member of NDMC, one has to be the sitting MLA," the plea has said.
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