Delhi’s MCD shelves 2,181 posts in staff rejig after audit

The civic body will now have 144,991 posts with effect from July 1 this year, compared to the previous arrangement of 147,172 posts.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to abolish 2,181 positions across its 14 departments, based on an independent third-party audit conducted by multinational company EY (formerly Ernst & Young), officials said on Monday.

The report sent by MCD commissioner Gyanesh Bharti to the civic body’s elected wing said EY (formerly Ernst & Young) has carried out an exhaustive consultation with departments. (HT Archive)

According to a proposal cleared by the house of councillors on Monday, the civic body will now have 144,991 posts with effect from July 1 this year, compared to the previous arrangement of 147,172 posts. However, abolishing of these posts will not lead to large-scale layoffs, and the changes will reflect only in the next round of hiring, officials clarified.

The report sent by MCD commissioner Gyanesh Bharti to the civic body’s elected wing said EY (formerly Ernst & Young) has carried out an exhaustive consultation with departments. The summary of the findings note that out of total 30 departments, 13 departments including education, IT, land and estate, toll tax, and veterinary department etc had adequate posts based on quantum and nature of work and there was no need for creation or abolishment of posts.

“There were three departments — assessment and collection, DEMS (Sanitation) and hospital administration where there was demand for minor increase in posts and there were 14 departments where it emerged that posts could be abolished,” the report, dated July 14, said. HT has seen a copy of the report.

Aam Aadmi Party leader of the house Mukesh Goyal said the proposal moved by the commissioner has been duly approved by the house but directions have been issued to check the legal ramifications of some changes.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kamaljeet Sehrawat, meanwhile, said the matter related to the restructuring of the civic body should have been discussed openly in the house, accusing AAP of creating “distractions” by raising issues such as Manipur. “We as councillors feel there is shortage of staff and I am not aware how they have found out excess posts. These things should be debated openly and we would have asked the executive wing if they agree to these changes,” he said.

Of the 2,181 posts that have been abolished, 66% are from the engineering department, which will now have 12,174 workers instead of earlier 13,627. “Within the engineering department, 100 multitask staff beldars have been abolished, along with 130 masons, 45 assistant engineers, 43 carpenters, and 45 painters,” a senior MCD official said. Other departments where posts have been removed include the horticulture department (172), town planning (17), central establishment department (60), finance department (91) and the press and information wing (4).

MCD’s schedule of establishment acts as the blueprint for the civic body — the designations, grades, and hierarchy of municipal officers and employees in permanent service with the MCD linked with their salaries, fee and allowances. This official document needs to be annually cleared by the elected wing of the body. On March 31, HT had reported that the AAP-led administration in the MCD had decided to undertake a third-party independent study to finalise the post-unification restructuring of the executive wing of the civic body. A temporary three-month extension to the existing arrangement was provided till June 30, and in absence of the new schedule, the corporation would have been unable to clear the workers’ salary bills.

Before unification, the North, South, and East MCDs had a total of 150,557 posts. However, after the unification in May 2022, two sets of revisions of posts have taken place — one in September 2022, and the other passed on Monday.

“The number of senior posts increased rapidly during the trifurcation, leading to promotions of various employees. During the merger of the civic bodies, many of these posts were saved by assigning two or three directors or heads of department, with distribution of zones among them. But many of these triple posts are being reduced in phased manner,” an MCD official aware of the matter said.