Bill to merge 3 Delhi MCDs introduced in Lok Sabha

As per the Bill, the unified municipal corporation of Delhi will be “a single, integrated and well-equipped entity”, and will not have more than 250 wards

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to merge the three municipal corporations in the national capital, was on Friday introduced in the Lok Sabha amid objections by opposition parties.

Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai in the Lok Sabha during the second leg of Budget Session of Parliament on Friday. (PTI Photo)

As per the Bill, the unified municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be “a single, integrated and well-equipped entity”, and will not have more than 250 wards. At present, Delhi has 272 wards under the north, south and east municipal corporations.

The Bill was introduced by minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai as Union home minister Amit Shah is in Uttar Pradesh for the swearing-in ceremony of chief minister Yogi Adtiyanath.

The move was opposed by the Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Revolutionary Socialtist Party, who said that it was not only against the federal structure of India, but also that the powers to amend laws pertaining to MCDs lie with the elected state government.

The Bill intends to give the central government more power over “the corporation” as against the elected state government as it mentions that the word “government” in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act (DMC), 1957 will be replaced with “central government” everywhere. The Bill also states that everything — from appointing a special officer during the transition phase (from three MCDs to one) to delimitation of the new wards — will be done by the central government through a gazette notification.

Once the Bill is passed in both the Houses of the Parliament, the MHA will issue a notification to formally implement the reunification law. This will mean that the MCD polls that were scheduled in April this year will be delayed by 6-12 months, because the delimitation process and the merger of staff and other administrative work into one unified body will take time.

Manish Tewari, Congress MP from Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib, said that the Lok Sabha does not have the legislative competence to enact this Bill. “The statement of objects and reasons of this Bill mentions that in 2011 this Act was amended by the legislative assembly of the national capital territory of Delhi vide the DMC (amendment) Act, 2011 leading to the trifurcation of the corporation. After part 9(A) was inserted into the Constitution of India with effect from June 1, 1993, the power to constitute municipalities lies with state governments in terms of Article 243 (P&R) of the Constitution of India,” he said, adding that similar provisions are also mentioned in Delhi’s transaction of business rules and allocation of business rules.

“In essence, what I am trying to say is that if any House has the legislative competence to unify these three municipalities, it is the Delhi Assembly and not this House. This House cannot substitute itself for the Delhi Assembly and pass this legislation in an illegal manner. This is a very serious Constitutional issue. It is a transgression on the Constitutional provisions,” Tewari said.

Responding to the objections raised by the opposition, the MoS (home) said the Bill does not violate the spirit of the Constitution in any way. “... Also, it does not encroach upon the rights of any federal state. According to Article 239AA of the Constitution of India, the Parliament has the power to amend or form laws on any matter formulated by the Delhi Assembly. At the time when the MCD was trifurcated, the expectation was that it would lead to Delhi’s progress. It was thought that the services provided by the MCDs will improve and there will be welfare of its workers. But, none of these happened in the last 10 years. The Bill has been introduced for greater transparency, improved governance and more efficient delivery of civic service for the people of Delhi, and also to ease the financial crisis faced by MCDs at present,” Rai said.

Elections to the three MCDs in Delhi were scheduled in April. The state election commission planned to announce the poll schedule on March 9, but deferred at the last moment citing a communication from the Lieutenant Governor’s office which stated that the Centre plans to reunify the three corporations.

The current terms of the three bodies — with 272 wards under them — expire between May 18 and May 22. The unified MCD was in 2012 trifurcated into the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. This too was done ahead of the MCD elections when Delhi and the Centre had Congress governments.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal has been criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre for using reunification as a “delaying tactic” to avoid the MCD polls.

“The nation won’t tolerate the drama they’re doing. They say they are the largest party in the world. We are the smallest. Still, they got scared! The largest party in the world got scared of the smallest party. Contest polls if you have the courage,” Kejriwal said during the budget session of the Delhi Assembly on Thursday.

The BJP maintained that by unifying the three corporations, the central government is trying to improve the financial health and working mechanisms of the civic body.