EXCLUSIVE | Details of Delhi civic bodies unification Bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha today

The Central government is all set to table the Bill for reunification of the three civic bodies of Delhi. India Today has accessed likely contents of the proposed Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) unification Bill 2022. As per sources, the bill could cap the number of seats in MCD to 250 wards and a new delimitation would be conducted to draw “the extent of wards” and mark the reserved seats for Scheduled Caste and women. This means that the MCD 2022 election would be effectively deferred.

According to highly placed sources, in all likelihood, until the new corporation is formed, the Bill might prescribe appointment of “a special officer” for overlooking the working of the MCD.

READ | How MCD unification will change functioning of Delhi’s local bodies in the capital

As per sources, the bill that will reunify the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) will likely be named — THE DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2022. The three identities will cease to exist after the reunification bill is introduced and passed in Parliament and the reunified body could be referred to as MCD.

All assets, liabilities, employees, revenue sources of the SDMC, EDMC and NDMC would be transferred to the MCD after the passage of the bill.

According to sources, the MCD unification bill 2022 would cap the number of wards to 250. This means that the delimitation process –likely to be done by the Central government — for drawing the “extent of the wards” would be required. The reunification bill reportedly says that after the delimitation process, the Central government could announce –through an official gazette :

1. Number of wards
2. Extent of each ward
3. Reserved wards for SC & Women
4. Rotation of reserved seats

India Today has also learned that the number of seats to be reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes could be proportionate to the population of the Scheduled Caste in Delhi.

The reasons that could be cited for reunification include “increasing financial difficulties of the three Municipal Corporations in Delhi” due to the trifurcation. These financial constraints left the MCDs “incapacitated to make timely payment of salaries and retirement benefits to their employees”.

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It is important to note, that the delay in the payment of salaries and the retirement benefits to the civic body employees had triggered frequent strikes in all three MCDs in the past decade. These financial constraints and the strike had diminished the corporations’ capacity to fulfil their sanitation and waste management mandates.

The reunification bill could also cite that the trifurcation of the MCDs had led to “inadequacies in resources and uncertainty in fund allocation and release”, due to which “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.”

As per our sources, the MCD reunification bill would seek to:

• Unify the three municipal corporations into a single, integrated and well-equipped entity
• Ensure a robust mechanism for optimal utilisation of resources
• Bring greater transparency, improved governance and
• And more efficient delivery of civic service

As per sources, the MCD reunification would trigger the need for a new delimitation process and the scheduled elections in April 2022 — would be deferred until the delimitation process is completed and official gazette for the same is issued.

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