On Delhi budget eve, MCD ends term of Delhi’s civic secretary

Bhagwan Singh has been replaced by Siva Prasad KV, who retired as the municipal secretary of the North MCD in March 2022.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) disengaged the services of municipal secretary Bhagwan Singh on Monday, a day before a special House meeting to take up budget proposals for 2023-24.

As required by norms, the civic budget has to be cleared by March 31. (HT Archive)

Singh has been replaced by Siva Prasad KV, who retired as the municipal secretary of the North MCD in March 2022. He had earlier functioned as an OSD to the mayor. Praveen Kumar Sachan, an additional deputy commissioner, will now look after the charge of secretary to the mayor.

In an order issued by the civic body’s central establishment department, the corporation said that Singh — who was engaged on a consultancy basis after he attained the age of 60 years in March 2019 and retired — is “hereby disengaged from services with effect from March 27”.

As required by norms, the civic budget has to be cleared by March 31.

After his retirement in 2019, Singh’s services were repeatedly extended over the intervening period by the erstwhile South MCD, and later by the unified MCD. An MCD official said Singh’s current contract was to end in June.

Singh did not comment on the development.

The municipal secretary acts as a link between the executive wing of the MCD, which is headed by the municipal commissioner, and the deliberative wing, made up of the elected councillors. All policy matters of the executive wing are submitted to the standing committee and House via the secretariat, which also convenes and arranges all official meetings called by the deliberative wing. To be sure, the powers related to the execution of policies, obligatory functions mentioned in the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act as well as transfer posting lie with the municipal commissioner, who heads the 150,000 personnel of the corporation.

During the corporation meetings on February 23 and 24, the municipal secretariat had issued reports in direct conflict with public statements issued by mayor Shelly Oberoi. The mayor also remarked on several occasions that Singh was not cooperating with her, and she and the municipal secretary were seen differing over the declaration of the standing committee election results.

The situation reached a low on February 24, when Aam Aadmi Party legislator Durgesh Pathak, the party in-charge for the MCD, alleged on the floor of the House that Singh was “directly responsible” for the violence in the civic body meet, and that he was “colluding” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Prem Chauhan, the former leader of the opposition in the South MCD and second-time councillor, said the removal or appointment of the municipal secretary is the commissioner’s domain. “There must be some shortcomings on behalf of the outgoing secretary that he was removed. Whoever comes to this key office should act as per the DMC Act, and neither in favour of the AAP or the BJP,” he said.

Senior BJP councillor from Dwarka Kamaljeet Sehrawat alleged that the AAP was responsible for sacking the official, and that the BJP condemns it.