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Cloud over Chandigarh MC budget as BJP councillors seek deferral
Citing that the budget cannot be presented before a discussion by the finance and contract committee (F&CC), the councillors on Tuesday wrote to the Chandigarh local bodies secretary and MC commissioner to defer the Wednesday meeting
Uncertainty looms over the special budget meeting of the Chandigarh municipal corporation scheduled for Wednesday, as BJP councillors have requested the UT administration to postpone it.
Citing that the budget cannot be presented before a discussion by the finance and contract committee (F&CC), the councillors on Tuesday wrote to the UT local bodies secretary and MC commissioner to defer the Wednesday meeting.
In the letter, BJP councillors said, “Resolutions of F&CC find precedence over any proposal/resolution for passing the budget of the corporation. Till date, the election of F&CC has not been declared/conducted by the corporation, but in an illegal manner, meeting for passing of budget has been fixed/called by mayor for March 6.”
On March 2, newly appointed mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, who is from AAP, had called a meeting on March 6 to discuss MC’s budget for financial year 2024-25.
As per the MC Act, the civic body budget is to be passed within the first week of February.
Normally, the first meeting after the mayoral elections is called to elect five members of the F&CC that discusses the budget and then tables it in the House for approval.
After the House’s nod, the budget is sent to the UT administration for the final clearance. As the financial year starts from April 1, the budget should get UT’s go-ahead before March 31 to allow financial transactions under various heads.
Though the MC commissioner is empowered to allow spending under the revenue head to ensure that the routine works are not hampered, the commissioner can only do so after the House approves the budget.
Municipal commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “After receiving the councillors’ written request, local bodies department sent it to the standing counsels for legal opinion, which has not been received till now.”
The mayor, meanwhile, said, “The budget meeting will be held on March 6, as scheduled. The BJP is intentionally obstructing the working of MC so that we cannot call any House meeting or approve new development projects. The BJP wants to linger on the meeting till the code of conduct for Lok Sabha is enforced, so that no new project is approved.”
Mayor calls meeting on March 11 to elect F&CC members
Departing from the norm, mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor has called a special House meeting to elect the five F&CC members on March 11, five days after the planned budget meeting.
After the general House, F&CC is the second-most powerful committee of MC and holds the power to approve projects and developmental works worth ₹50 lakh. Projects costing more than ₹50 lakh are discussed and approved by the House.
While each party can field its candidates for the committee, BJP councillors are most likely to be chosen since the saffron party holds the majority in the 35-member MC House with 17 councillors and also has the support of the sole Shiromani Akali Dal councillor. AAP comes second with 10 councillors, followed by Congress with seven.
In the election notification, MC secretary Shambhu Rathee said, “As per the MC Act, every candidate for election as a member of standing committee shall be nominated by a nomination paper, which shall be signed by the candidate and two other members of the corporation as proposer and seconder. The councillors can submit the nominations from 11 am to 5 pm on March 7.”
In the previous two terms, the five members were elected unanimously with all parties fielding as many candidates as required (two each from BJP and AAP, and one from Congress).
