Delhi: MCD merger bill plans to do away with post created during trifurcation

The proposal is part of The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which was introduced by the Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The Centre has proposed to away with the of Director, Local Bodies -- a post created at the time of trifurcation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2012 -- to coordinate the functions of the three bodies and to resolve e the functional and administrative anomalies arising out of the division of the civic body.

Through the Bill the Centre proposed to appoint “Special officer” who will essentially discharge the functions of the elected wing of councillors as in the interim till the first meeting of the new corporation is held. (Picture for representation only/HT Archive)

The proposal is part of The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which was introduced by the Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Bill seeks to merge the three corporations to create one civic body for Delhi.

Through the Bill the Centre proposed to appoint “Special officer” who will essentially discharge the functions of the elected wing of councillors as in the interim till the first meeting of the new corporation is held. The Bill proposes to completely omit the section on Director, Local Bodies in the amended act that governs the functioning of the MCDs.

Senior municipal officials and experts said that the move will restore the relations between the Delhi government to pre-2012 days and give more autonomy to the unified corporation.

K S Mehra, retired bureaucrat and the last commissioner of the unified MCD, said the office of the Director, Local Bodies, came into existence on May 2, 2012 after the charge was handed over to three separate commissioners. “The Director, Local Bodies’ office diluted the authority of the commissioner as all the transfers and inter-corporation issues had to be reported to it. It led to more interference in the functioning of the civic bodies. In the unified MCD, the commissioner and the corporation were fully autonomous,” he said.

Mehra added that the removal of the post will improve the functioning of the commissioner’s office as there will be more accountability. “The omission of this office will once again make the MCD a truly municipal government,” he added.

The section which was inserted to the DMC Act by the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in December 2011 stated that besides coordinating among the three civic bodies, the director was also empowered to frame the rules of recruitment for various posts, coordinate collection and sharing of toll tax and resolve functional and administrative anomalies arising out of trifurcation.

A senior retired municipal official, who asked not to be named, said the post could not function as enshrined in the trifurcation process. “Subsequently, several junior officials were appointed to the office, and the senior municipal commissioners were made to report to the office. It led to lot of heartburn with several commissioners refusing to attend meetings presided by Director,” the official said.

Yogender Sigh Maan, retired director (information) of the erstwhile MCD, that under the pre-2012 functioning the municipal commissioners were directly able to approach the state finance minister and the chief minister in case of problems such as shortage of funds. “The orders of the government were also communicated to the corporation through the chief secretary. MCD is an urban local body and it will remain so but its autonomy will increase by doing away with the post of Director, Local Bodies,” he added.

Rakesh Mehta former Delhi chief secretary who also served as state election commissioner said that the efficacy of the new system will only become clear in the coming days. “I would not comment on how good or bad the new set up will be as it will only become clear in the coming days,” he added.

DMC act also provides for an arrangement of such administrator during the suspension period. MCD has seen similar arrangements in three periods-- 4 March 1975 to 12 June 1977, 11 April 1980 to 5 February 1983 and 6 January 1990 to 1 April 1997.

Former mayor Subhash Arya said that the changes will empower the new MCD. “The unified MCD could deal with ministers and commissioner were much more autonomous and the officers were also of the level of joint secretary. They could directly deal with ministers and senior central or state bureaucracy. This phase will come back and new administration will be set up which will become clearer in coming months. For the time being a special officer would manage the corporation affairs,” Arya said.