Four nominated Congress members of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), replaced by others during its recent reconstitution, on Monday challenged their removal in the Delhi High Court, saying the Centre’s decision was “arbitrary and malicious”. They contended that the Union Government had acted in utter haste and kept the exercise under guarded secrecy.
Petitioners Tajdar Babar, Ashok Ahuja, I. A. Siddiqui and Suka Ram have argued that though their term was to expire on January 17, 2016, they were removed illegally and prematurely “without any authority of law”.
The Congress leaders have challenged the nomination and subsequent appointment of former BJP MLA from Delhi Cantonment Karan Singh Tanwar, former MP and former Delhi Mayor Anita Arya, B. S. Bhatt and Abdul Rashid Ansari as NDMC non-official members. The petition alleged that the September 5 notification for their appointment was issued in haste and sought its quashing.
The matter came up before a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R. S. Endlaw, which asked the counsel representing the Centre if the decision for removal was conveyed to the petitioners. When the counsel sought time to go through the petition, the Bench posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday.
Former Minto Road MLA Ms. Babar and the three other leaders had earlier challenged the show-cause notice issued to them on June 30 this year.
The High Court had refused to intervene in the matter, but asked the Centre to take a decision, after considering the petitioners' representation, and communicate it to them. The petitioners were given liberty to seek remedy, if aggrieved.
In their fresh petition, the nominated Congress members pointed out that they did not get any communication about their removal and alleged that the Centre took the decision in secrecy to obviate the challenge to NDMC’s reconstitution. They said they were entitled to function till the five-year term of the 13-member body comes to an end.
There was no provision under the NDMC Act to remove the members, said the petition, while contending that the Centre's action was “highly contemptuous, illegal, arbitrary and void ab initio, apart from being motivated and malicious”.
The petition also sought an interim stay on the operation of the September 5 notification, besides the Court's orders to restrain the new appointees from acting as members of the NDMC till expiry of the term of petitioners.
