NEW DELHI: While Parliament, the Delhi Assembly, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), and other policy-making bodies routinely publish proceedings and decisions of their house meetings, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) stands out as an exception.
An RTI query has revealed that the civic body does not upload records, resolutions, minutes, or decisions of its House and Standing Committee meetings on its official website, in clear violation of the transparency norms mandated under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The RTI was filed by Paras Tyagi, activist and President of the Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment. Tyagi first raised the issue on the Lieutenant Governor’s public grievance portal, Listening Post, questioning why MCD was withholding such information from the public.
In its response, the civic body admitted that no such records had been uploaded, citing “website updation” following the unification of the three erstwhile municipal corporations—South, North and East Delhi—into a single MCD.
“The matter is still under consideration,” the response read.
When asked under RTI about the rules or guidelines governing the publication of resolutions passed by the MCD, the corporation stated that no such framework exists. “There are no rules and guidelines that govern the publication of resolutions passed by MCD on its official website. The same is governed by as per the provisions of Section 86 of the DMC Act, 1957.
As per the above provision, no Resolution passed by the Standing Committee and the House is published on the MCD website,” the response said.
However, the justification contradicts the fundamental tenets of the RTI Act, 2005. Under Sections 4(1)(b) and 4(2) of the Act, every public authority is required to proactively disclose key information—including organisational structure, decision-making processes, rules, and records of public interest—without waiting for formal RTI requests.
The law also mandates that public bodies must regularly update such information to minimise the need for citizens to seek it through applications.
Tyagi, who has filed multiple RTIs with MCD over the years, said the civic body’s repeated refusal to share information has become a pattern.
“For the last six to seven years, whenever I took up issues with MCD—whether through RTIs or grievance petitions—the responses were either delayed due to administrative excuses, elections, or the merger of the three MCDs. And when nothing else worked, they simply said the matter was a policy issue or didn’t pertain to their department,” he said.
Frustrated by this lack of accountability, Tyagi said he filed the latest RTI to understand how the civic body maintains records of its House proceedings and Standing Committee affairs.
“I am not shocked to see how MCD is making a mockery of the RTI Act, which came into existence after detailed parliamentary debate in 2005. Be it the courts or Parliament, every government institution regularly updates its proceedings and reports, but MCD seems to believe it is above the rule of law,” he remarked.
He added that despite the merger and reforms under the DMC Act, 1957, the civic body’s persistent opacity raises questions about the intent of its decision-makers.
“This continuing secrecy clearly shows that those in power want MCD to operate without public scrutiny,” Tyagi said.
