New Bill puts Centre at centre of MCD, signals delayed polls

Apart from replacing the word “Government” with “Central Government”, the provisions raise the prospect of a delimitation exercise, which could lead to a considerable delay in the conduct of civic body polls. And to run the corporation till then, they give the Centre the option of appointing an officer of its choice.

The Bill, which was passed by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday, states that in at least 11 sections of The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, the words “Central Government” shall replace “Government”, wherever it occurs.

It also states: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Central Government may, if necessary, appoint a person to be called the Special Officer, to exercise the power and discharge the functions of the Corporation until the date on which the first meeting of the Corporation is held after the commencement of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022.”

According to Delhi officials, this means that until representatives of a unified MCD are elected, the Centre’s Special Officer can head the corporation.

Besides, the Bill proposes that the number of seats in the unified corporation will not be more than 250 — down from the existing 272 — and will be determined by the “Central Government at the time of the establishment of the Corporation”. This essentially means that a fresh delimitation exercise will have to be undertaken.

Currently, Section 3A of the The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, which refers to the division of Delhi into zones, states: “The Central Government may, after consultation with the Government, from time to time, by notification in the Official Gazette, alter the names, increase or diminish the area or any zone…” With the removal of the word “Government” from this section, the Centre alone can make any such change, according to the Bill.

According to senior officials, the Bill will essentially eliminate the role of the state government in the civic bodies, which fall under the Union Home Ministry. “The Bill will mark a total exit of the state government from the MCD. While there is a very small role now, these amendments will take the Delhi government out of the picture entirely. Some clarity, however, is required on the funding pattern of the new MCD,” the official said.

At present, the Delhi government has to give a share of the taxes it collects to the corporations as planned expenditure.

The MCD was trifurcated by the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in 2012. The Congress was in power at the Centre as well at the time. The split’s stated purpose was to decentralise power for better governance.

However, the division into South, East and North Delhi Municipal Corporations resulted in unequal distribution of sources and funds, leading to delayed salaries and lack of resources for infrastructure projects. Over the past seven years, the BJP-led corporations have accused the AAP-led Delhi government of “financially starving” them while AAP has accused the BJP of “corruption and misuse of funds”.

On Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Assembly. Accusing the BJP of forcing the State Election Commissioner to defer the municipal polls, which were scheduled to be held in April, he said: “If you have guts, fight polls.”

The Bill, in the Statement of Objects and Reasons, states: “…trifurcation of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi was uneven in terms of territorial divisions and revenue generating potential. As a result, there was a huge gap in the resources available to the three corporations compared to their obligations.”

It says that the gap has grown, leading to delay in the payment of salaries and retirement benefits which have resulted in frequent strikes.

“…the main objective of trifurcation of creating compact municipalities in Delhi to provide more efficient civic services to the public has not been achieved. Instead, owing to inadequacies in resources and uncertainty in fund allocation and release, the three corporations have been facing huge financial hardships, making it difficult for them to maintain the civic services in Delhi at the desired levels,” it states.