MCD officials to present Budget to special officer

Nearly two months after the municipal polls, the new councillors are yet to elect a mayor and deputy mayor

Nearly two months after the municipal polls, the new councillors are yet to elect a mayor and deputy mayor. However, since the deadline for passing the civic body’s Budget is February 15, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s executive wing is making preparations to finalise the annual Budget process.

A senior MCD official said the body’s finance department will make a budget presentation on Wednesday at 11am before special officer Ashwini Kumar. (HT Archive)

A senior MCD official said the body’s finance department will make a budget presentation on Wednesday at 11am before special officer Ashwini Kumar -- the de-facto in-charge of the elected wing till the time that the mayoral polls are not held.

“A presentation regarding the budget proposals, revenue and expenditure, and revised budgetary allocations for each department will be made before the special officer. He continues to hold the powers of the elected wing till the mayoral election is held,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

If he wishes, the officer said, Kumar could approve the proposal the same day.

To be sure, the MCD budgetary process starts in December, with the municipal commissioner presenting the proposals before the powerful standing committee. In a normal year, these proposals are discussed in zonal and subject-specific committees, and land before the House of councillors in January. February 15 is the deadline for finalizing the tax rates as budget provisions for the next financial year.

This year, however, timelines got a little skewed as the three erstwhile MCDs were first unified in April, and the elections of the merged civic body were held in December.

MCD commissioner Gyanesh Bharti had earlier on December 8, 2022 presented the Budget proposals worth ₹16,023 crore for 2023-24 before Kumar, with over a quarter of the budget expenses proposed for the sanitation sector.

A second MCD official said no major tax changes are likely to be made in the budget. “We have not changes the unit area values for calculation of property taxes but there may be some changes in the use factors for a few categories as per the municipal valuation committee recommendations,” the official said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of delaying the mayoral elections. “We have no objection to the proceedings being undertaken by the officers but we are hopeful that the mayor will be elected before February 15 and make necessary changes to realise the vision of AAP towards Delhi,” he said.

The BJP hit back, with its spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor saying that this could be the first time in 25 years that the MCD Budget is approved without deliberations in the House. “Had AAP acted responsibly and allowed mayoral elections to take place on January 6, by now the standing committee too would have been constituted, and an appropriate discussion and amendments would have been made,” he said.