MCD may upload House, committee proceedings on official website

Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) agreed and stated that they wanted the MCD’s operations to be more transparent.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has said that it may move a proposal allowing it to upload documents of corporation proceedings on its official website.

Many highlighted that the daily issues faced in the city mostly fall under the MCD’s domain.

The municipal secretary said this in response to an RTI asking if the resolutions passed by the MCD’s standing committee and the MCD house are published online, and added that it will seek the opinion of the Law Department before submitting any such proposal.

In its response, seen by HT, the corporation said, “There are no rules and guidelines that govern the publication of resolutions passed by MCD on its official website. The same is governed by as per the provision of Section 86 of DMC Act, 1957. As per above provision, no resolutions passed by the standing committee and the House are published on the MCD website.”

However, the corporation also stated that it complies with the RTI Act (2005), section 4 of which states that public authorities must share information regarding its functioning, specifically including the budget given to different agencies, and the particulars of all plans and proposed expenditures.

The RTI was filed by Paras Tyagi, president of the Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment (CYCLE). “I filed the RTI as the MCD’s operations are public information. Other agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) do upload their documents online. It is only the MCD which does not. How can the public hold the MCD accountable for their responsibilities without it?” he said.

Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) agreed and stated that they wanted the MCD’s operations to be more transparent. “Once the funds are released in the budget, what they do with them is not made known to the public. Also, if funds are being diverted, the public should know of it,” said Atul Goyal, president of the United Residents Joint Action (URJA), an organisation of Delhi RWAs.

Others highlighted that the daily issues faced in the city mostly fall under the MCD’s domain. “Sanitiation, sewage, waterlogging – these are all issues which are the MCD’s responsibility. The public should know what is being done about them. Maybe the MCD thinks that people will criticise them if the documents are released, but it would only lead to collaboration between the residents and the corporation,” said B.S. Vohra, president of a federation of East Delhi RWAs.