NEW DELHI: The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to merge the three corporations and provides for nearly complete control of the Centre over the civic body, was on Friday introduced in Parliament amid protests by opposition.
The draft bill seeks to give more power over the civic body to the Centre than the elected state government. It mentions that the word “government”, wherever it occurs, shall be substituted with “Central Government”.
The bill that was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai states that the Central government can appoint a special officer during the transition phase as well as to carry out delimitation of the new wards through an “official gazette notification”.
“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,” the bill states.
According to Delhi government officials, the last time the delimitation exercise was carried out in 2010-12 by then State Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta, it took nearly two years for the exercise to be completed after which the trifurcation was done.
Officials said once the bill is enacted, the power centre of the corporation will change entirely. “It will more or less be governed by the Centre on lines of the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment Board, just like it used to be the case with the unified MCD before 2012. The mayor then directly reported to the home ministry. Trifurcation gave powers to an extent to the Delhi government to intervene in the matters of the corporations, which shall not be the case any longer,” said an official.
The draft bill doesn’t give any clarity on the funding pattern of the reunified MCD, but it can be assumed that like in the case of NDMC and Cantonment Board, the MCD too will receive financial aid directly from the Centre. At present, the Centre could give funds to corporations only under certain schemes such as Swachh Bharat.
Slamming the BJP-led central government over the introduction of the Bill in Parliament, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said this was for the first time that a Central government was “scared” of a state government. He termed it the ‘Stop MCD Elections’ bill. CM Arvind Kejriwal, too, has accused the Centre of using merger as a “delaying tactic” to avoid civic polls.
Delimitation exercise a must may defer MCD polls by 6-7 months
The Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957 was amended in 2012 by the then Congress government under Sheila Diskhit to trifurcate the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) into three corporations — North, South and East.
In 2012, the Congress government was the ruling party both at the Centre as well as in Delhi and got the amendment done in an attempt to make inroads into the civic bodies, which had become a BJP bastion, as well as to dilute the powers of a single powerful mayor in the city.
“Provided that the number of seats shall in no case be more than two hundred and fifty and the number of seats in the corporation shall be determined by the Centre at the time of the establishment of the Corporation,” the bill states. Officials said that the bill provides to cap the number of municipal wards at 250, from the existing 270, which means delimitation exercise will have to be carried out, which is a long-drawn exercise and may take six months to a year.
“This will ultimately defer the civic polls to at least six to seven months,” the official said. The civic polls were due in April, however, on March 9, the State Election Commission (SEC) deferred the announcement of the poll schedule citing that it has received a representation from the Centre seeking to reunify the corporations.
Congress attempt to win MCD polls
In 2012, the Congress government was the ruling party both at the Centre as well as in Delhi and got the amendment done in an attempt to make inroads into the civic bodies, which had become a BJP bastion.
Tussle for power over civic body
How the corporations are being run since trifurcation in 2012?
Trifurcation of the MCD gave powers to the state government to intervene in its matters and be accountable for the same. The three corporations did not have any direct funding mechanism from the Centre except for grants for schemes under Swachh Bharat Mission etc.
After trifurcation, the power of nominating members went to the state government. There are currently a total of 272 municipal wards.
What the bill seeks to change post-reunification?
Reunified MCD to directly report to the Centre (Ministry of Home Affairs) like it used to during the period 1957-2011 before trifurcation. MCD will more or less be governed on the lines of NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board; will likely receive financial aid and assistance like them.
Centre will most likely take the power of nominating members to the House in its hands. The number of municipal wards will be capped at 250 or less, which will entirely change the no. of seats for SC/women and general categories.