A special officer running MCD may not be a first for Capital

The term of the three municipal corporations will end on May 18, and the Centre has to appoint the officer before that date, officials said.

As the Lok Sabha has passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, a special officer is all set to take over the functioning of the civic bodies in Delhi. However, this will not be the first time that a special administrator will run the civic affairs in the city overtaking the powers of the elected councillors, senior retired and serving civic officials have said.

The MCD polls were expected to be held in April. (HT PHOTO)

The term of the three municipal corporations -- which the bill seeks to unify -- will end on May 18, and the Centre has to appoint the officer before that date, officials aware of bill details said.

Of the 75 years of its existence -- the MCD was brought into existence by an Act of Parliament, Delhi Municipal Act in 1957 by subsuming 16 different civic organisations, the officials said. Of these 75 years, for 12 years an administrator has discharged the MCD duties, they said.

Yogender Singh Maan, who served in the information department of the unified MCD and was associated with compilation of corporation’s official history, said that administrators or special officers were brought in for the first time between March 24, 1975 and July 4, 1977. “After that the administrator ran the MCD between April 11, 1980 and February 28, 1983 and then the last such period was between January 6, 1990 and March 31, 1997.

“PV Jayakrishnan, the former chief secretary of Delhi was the last special officer-cum-administrator of the corporation. During the suspension period, the administrator takes over the role of the elected House of the councillors,” he said.

The existing five-year terms of the 272 elected municipal councilors are set to expire on May 18, 2022, and according to the Bill, the special officer will remain in control of the unified corporation till “the date on which the first meeting of the Corporation is held”.

Deep Chand Mathur, retired director of information, who served MCD from 1980 to 2011, said during the last three suspensions, the municipal commissioners have mostly held the joint charge of special officers as well. “The corporation has an executive wing headed by commissioner, a political deliberative wing comprising of councillors, subject committees and house while the municipal secretary’s office co-ordinates between the two. Policies and regulations are moved by the officers and departments while they are passed by the elected councillors. During the suspension period, the special officer passes the policies pushed by commissioner,” he explained.

A senior MCD law department official said the suspension of corporation for a period of six months and appointment of ‘special officer’ is already a part of DMC Act, 1957 under the ‘transitory provisions’ of Section514A. “In the past, the central government has invoked section 490 of the Act on several occasions. The Section 490 states that if in the opinion of the central government, the corporation persistently makes default in the performance of its duties or abuses its powers, the central government can issue a gazette notification suspending MCD for six months which can be extended by six months. The central government can also appoint the special officer, to exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the corporation,” the law department official explained.