New Delhi: There is more to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2022, introduced by the Centre in the Lok Sabha Friday, than meets the eye at first glance.
The bill aims to merge the national capital’s three civic agencies into one, as in the past — in 2012 the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had been replaced by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation — and resolve the issue of fund crisis being faced by the agencies.
But according to the new bill and provisions of the existing law, reviewed by ThePrint, it also seeks to do away with provisions that currently allow the Delhi government, presently under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), room to intervene in certain aspects of Delhi’s municipal affairs.
Some of the operational areas from which the bill proposes to keep out the Delhi government include funds, the demarcation of municipal zones, consultations in case of a delimitation exercise for municipal wards, providing recommendations and approval for building bye-laws and and the power to hold councillors, officers and municipal employees accountable for loss, waste or misapplication of money or property owned by or vested in the corporation.
Election for Delhi’s three municipal bodies were expected to be held in mid-April, but the State Election Commission deferred the polls earlier this month, after the Centre wrote to it to allow for time to merge the three bodies. The delay triggered an outburst from AAP, with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal saying that “Forcing the EC to cancel elections is unprecedented, unconstitutional, and bad for democracy”.
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The fund factor
The trifurcation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) into the South, North and East Delhi corporations was done by then Delhi CM and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit in 2012.
The statement of objects and reasons of the bill claims that the trifurcation has resulted in uneven territorial division and revenue generating ability among the three corporations, which the bill proposes to resolve.
According to the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission’s report, which was accepted by the Union government in February 2015, the Centre is supposed to give a grant of Rs 2.87 lakh crore to state governments every year, of which Rs 87,144 crore is meant for municipalities. But Delhi, being a Union Territory, doesn’t get this fund, said a senior bureaucrat in the state government
Funds for the three corporations are therefore released by the Delhi government under the Basic Tax Assignment (BTA), to pay for salaries. It is the Delhi government, which decides what proportion of the BTA will be assigned to the corporations. Additionally, the civic agencies have their own sources of generating revenues, which includes the levying of taxes such as those on property and professional tax, to meet their expenditures, explained the senior official.
According to the state government official, the three municipal corporations also receive funds from the centre for specific schemes in sectors such as health and education, but those funds too are allotted through the state government, under provisions of the currently applicable law.
Over the past several years, the Delhi civic bodies — currently led by the BJP — have accused the AAP-led Delhi government of depriving them of resources, resulting in delayed salary payments and lack of funds for infrastructure projects.
The AAP government, on the other hand, has accused the corporations of rampant corruption.
By removing the Delhi government from a position of power for any sort of intervention in the affairs of the civic bodies, the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2022 proposes to make the unified municipal agency dependent solely on central government for funds.
Other changes
The bill proposes to substitute the word “government” with the word “central government” in several provisions in the existing law.
One such existing provision reads: “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.”
Removing the word “government” from this provision effectively means that the central government would have absolute control over deciding municipal zones, said another senior government official.
Delhi currently has 12 municipal zones, each one of which is an administrative unit, headed by an IAS officer.
The bill further gives clear indication of a possible delimitation exercise — which would mean further delay in municipal polls in Delhi – and gives power to the central government to appoint a special officer for taking charge of administrative matters.
The new bill takes away the state government’s rights for being consulted by the centre in the delimitation process, such as for deciding the total number of wards, boundaries of wards for municipal elections and deciding reservations for women candidates and individuals belonging to Scheduled Castes.
Currently Delhi has 272 wards, of which the South and North municipal bodies have 104 wards each and the East municipal body has 64.
Another provision of the existing law states that “… every municipal officer and other municipal employee shall be liable for the loss, waste or misapplication of any money or other property owned by or vested in Corporation, if such loss, waste or misapplication is a direct consequence of his neglect or misconduct and a suit for compensation may be instituted against him by the Corporation with the previous sanction of the Government or by the Government.”
By substituting the word “government” with “central government” in this provision, the bill seeks absolute control by the centre over initiating action against municipal officers in cases of loss, waste or misapplication of money or property of the corporation, said the second senior official quoted above.
Similarly, the bill intends to do away with the state government as an approving authority for building bye-laws and amendments drafted by the corporation.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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