Delhi Government Moves Supreme Court Against NGT Order Appointing LG As Head Of Solid Waste Management Committee

The Delhi Government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) decision to appoint Lt. Governor as head of the high-level committee for the purposes of handling solid waste management in Delhi.

The appeal was filed through Advocate Shadan Farasat under Section 22 of the NGT Act, arguing that the appointment of LG as the head of the high-level committee in the order passed in February is violative of the constitution.

“The executive power for matters relating to local governance lies exclusively with the State Government (GNCTD) under the Constitution, except to the extent limited by an express Parliamentary law,” the plea stated.

It highlighted that “Public health, sanitation and Solid Waste Management”is enshrined under Entry 6 of Schedule 12 of the Constitution which gives power to the local government i.e. the municipal corporations in Delhi to deal with the issues concerning the same.

Furthermore, it stated that, the functioning of Municipal Corporation is referable to Entry 5 of the State list which is not an excepted subject and is “therefore within the executive ken of the elected government of Delhi.”

Referring to Article 239AA of the Constitution, the Delhi Government has argued that “LG is only a nominal figurehead except in areas of police, order and land where he exercises his powers in lieu of the power designated by the Constitution.”

It has also referred to State (NCT of Delhi) v. Union of India(2018) 8 SCC 501, wherein the Apex Court has held that, “the elected government of the NCT of Delhi has exclusive executive powers over all subjects in the State and Concurrent List, apart from the three excepted subjects of ‘public order’, ‘police’ and ‘land’.”

Notably, remedial measures for the management of solid waste do not fall under these excepted heads, the plea stated.

It has been contended that, “the remedial steps as suggested by the NGT such as setting up new waste processing facilities, augmenting existing waste processing facilities and remediation of legacy waste sites are all which require budgetary allocations that are authorised by the Delhi Government.Hence, the role of the elected government becomes extremely necessary in this regard.”

The NGT’s decision is clearly in violation of the federal principles which govern the NCT of Delhi as it is taking away the power of allocating finances from the Delhi government,it said.

Recently, the Delhi Government has also challenged the NGT’s order in Ashwani Yadav vs. Govt. of NCT of Delhi, in which the Tribunal had appointed LG as the head of the high-level committee concerning cleanliness of Yamuna River.

Case Title: Govt. of NCT of Delhi v.National Green Tribunal, Delhi & Ors.