HC seeks Centre reply over order on urban areas
The Delhi high court, on Wednesday, sought the Centre’s response on a plea challenging the constitutional validity of a notification issued by the lieutenant-governor declaring 89 rural villages as urban areas.
A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar issued notice to the ministry of home affairs and the lieutenant-governor and sought their replies by October 25 on the plea filed by an NGO.
The petition filed through advocate Anil K. Aggarwal has sought quashing of the L-G’s May 16 notification which deemed some rural areas as urban, saying the lieutenant-governor had no jurisdiction to issue it and the move was “ultra vires” (beyond the legal power or authority) of the Constitution.
Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Aggarwal said that only the MCD has power to issue such notifications.
“The L-G has no power to exercise in this issue. And as we have three municipal corporations, three separate notifications should be issued by each corporation,” Mr Aggarwal said. He added that as the L-G has been appointed by the Centre and is representing the Centre, they made him party in the matter.
“We have also made the Centre a party in our matter, as the L-G is their representative. We have told the court that if rural areas will be declared as urban, then Delhi law act or panchayati law act cannot be applied to them. We want the notification issued by the L-G to be dismissed,” he said.
The NGO, Campaign for People Participation in Development Planning, in its plea claimed that by issuing such a notification, the L-G was stepping into the domain of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.