Bill to unify MCDs not legally tenable, says opposition after seeking review

Union home minister Amit Shah introduced the Bill on Tuesday and said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi gave “step-motherly” treatment to the three municipal civic bodies in Delhi --- North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The Bill to merge the three municipal corporations in Delhi was legally untenable, against the constitutional morality and should either be repealed or sent to a select committee of the Parliament, members of the opposition said during the debate on the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh speaks in the Upper House during the second part of the Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi.  (ANI)

The Bill was passed by the Parliament on Tuesday.

Union home minister Amit Shah introduced the Bill on Tuesday and said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi gave “step-motherly” treatment to the three municipal civic bodies in Delhi --- North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

“AAP’s step-motherly attitude towards these municipal corporations has resulted in dissatisfaction among their employees, and the three units are functioning in different ways despite being part of one city,” Shah said. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 30.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was the first speaker after the home minister, said that a “control freak” government was trying to increase its own control over the capital.

“I oppose this Bill and at the outset. This Bill is constitutionally suspect, legally untenable, administratively plunderous and politically hypocritical,” he said. “This is about control by a control freak ‘sarkar’ and has nothing to do with the citizens of Delhi.”

He added that the legislation was a ploy to delay the municipal elections in Delhi through the delimitation process. “The Bill clearly states that the term ‘government’ will be changed to the central government, and it applies to 19 provisions,” he said.

Singhvi questioned the Centre’s intent and reasoning, and asked if it wanted to improve the civic bodies, why did it wait till now.

“What is magic in bringing down wards from 272 to 250? How will this help people of Delhi or make MCDs improve?” he said.

“You talk of unification, but you don’t talk of non-remittance of central government funds, corruption in MCD, mountains of garbage, the deficit of ₹2,000 crore…. What improvement will this Bill bring?

The MCD elections in Delhi were scheduled to be held this month. However, on March 9, the state election commission deferred the announcement of the scheduled for the civic polls in the city after receiving a communication by the Centre expressing its intention to merge the three MCDs. The MCD was trifurcated in 2012 by the then Sheila Dikshit government.

Another Congress member Shaktisinh Gohil demanded that the government should explain the reason behind the need to unite the three municipal corporations. He said the Bill was an attack on the federal structure. “We never treated the corporations like step children, the government was never a step mother,” he said. “This Bill is ultra vires because it will never pass the test of constitutional morality,” Gohil said, urging the Chair to refer the Bill to a select committee for scrutiny.

AAP member Sanjay Singh said the Centre should rename the Bill to “Kejriwal-phobia” Bill, and added that it was brought by the BJP to avoid civic polls.

He also said that to stop Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP from coming to power, the Centre wants to take control of the three municipal corporations. “If you don’t have to contest an election and run away from the election, then I will suggest again, name this Bill the Kejriwal-phobia Bill. This Bill will write a story of you crushing the Constitution. This Bill will write the story of ending the Election Commission by you. You have made Delhi a centre of corruption,” Singh said.

Trinamool Congress’ Jawhar Sircar said that the spirit of the Bill will provide a model for the rest of the country. “When you merge all these bodies, what will happen to the officers from different cadres,” he asked. “What happens to seniority, what happens to morale, it may even take ten years to sort these issues out,” he said.

He said that the Bill was introduced unilaterally and sans consultation with even the Delhi assembly.

BJD’s Prassana Acharya said that even as the government argues that there is an imbalance in the revenue since the trifurcation. “According to my information, even the earlier unified corporation ran in deficit. We have to streamline the revenue collection and expenditure,” he said.

John Brittas of the CPI(M) slammed the government saying that it is the bureaucracy that will govern Delhi if the Bill is passed. “This Bill denies the people of Delhi basic democratic rights,” he said.

“This government has already unleashed the officers against the people of democracy, they believe in LG’s rule,” he said.

Fauzia Khan of NCP said that the Bill will introduce an emergency-like situation in Delhi.

Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi said that Union government has completely skipped consulting the Delhi assembly while drafting the Bill. “We are talking about federal governance structure and democracy, but this way it may no longer endure,” she said.