The Delhi government today 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.
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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.
