Special officer to pass MCD Budget

According to a Municipal Corporation of Delhi spokesperson, the finalisation of the next MCD House meeting to elect a Mayor on February 16 has cleared any ambiguity

Delhi’s municipal budget for the 2023-24 fiscal will now be passed by the central government-appointed special officer Ashwini Kumar--a first in over two decades.

According to Section 109 of the DMC Act (adoption of budget estimates), the corporation must determine the rates at which various municipal taxes, rates and cesses shall be levied in the next following year on or before the 15th day of February of each year. (HT Archive)

According to a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) spokesperson, the finalisation of the next MCD House meeting to elect a Mayor on February 16 has cleared any ambiguity and according to statutory requirements, the budget will be passed by the special officer. According to Section 109 of the DMC Act (adoption of budget estimates), the corporation must determine the rates at which various municipal taxes, rates and cesses shall be levied in the next following year on or before the 15th day of February of each year.

“Unless the Mayor is elected, the special officer continues to hold the powers of elected wing and the February 15 deadline has to be met,” Anil Gupta, retired chief law officer of the MCD, said, adding while the issues related to the voting rights of aldermen and mayoral elections will be settled by the apex court, there is no ambiguity left for the budget process to proceed.

To be sure, MCD has had such “suspension states” for a total of at least 12 years since it was constituted in 1957. Administrators or special officers managed MCD’s affairs between March 24, 1975 to July 4, 1977 (its first suspension period), April 11, 1980 to February 28, 1983 (second suspension period) and January 1990 till March 31, 1997 (third suspension period).PV Jayakrishnan, the former chief secretary of Delhi, was the last special officer-administrator of the corporation in 1997.

“All preparations have been made and the presentations regarding the budget have been made before special officer Ashwini Kumar. We will only need his approval and the schedule of taxes will be published on February 15,” the spokesperson said. HT had earlier reported that the finance department had made a budget presentation before the special officer on February 1 on the day when the national budget was being tabled.

On December 8, 2022, municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti presented the budget proposal of ₹16,023 crore for 2023-24--with over a quarter of the expenses proposed for sanitation--to the special officer. A senior official of the finance department explained that the MCD budgetary process starts in December with the municipal commissioner presenting the budget proposal for next financial year and revised estimates for the ongoing financial year before the standing committee. “The proposal is normally cleared by the standing committee in December and discussed in zonal and subject-specific committees in the House of councillors in January. February 15 is the deadline for finalising the tax rates as budget provisions for the next financial year,” the official explained.

Another MCD official said that according to the initial budget proposal --27.87% of ₹16,023.55 crore is proposed to be spent on sanitation, 20.82% on general administration (including salaries and running costs), 17.77% on the education sector, 10.73% on the public health and medical sectors. “We are expecting no major deviations or tax hikes in the final budget,” the official added.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Goyal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor group, said that while there is no time left for the elected wing to pass the budget, the AAP will ensure that its priorities are taken up in the revised budget and amendments later this year.

However, Prem Chauhan, former leader of Opposition from AAP in the erstwhile South MCD and second-time councillor, added that the budget deadline must be delayed. “Why should bureaucrats pass the budget when an elected wing is already in place? The councillors know the problems and budgetary requirements for their wards. This is against democratic norms,” he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the MCD budget will be approved without deliberation in the House for the first time in the last 25 years and blamed the AAP for this situation. “Had AAP acted responsibly and allowed the Mayoral election to take place on January 6, the standing committee too would have been constituted by now and appropriate discussion and amendments would have been made. If the BJP gets the chance to chair the standing committee, we will work to reduce property tax rates on priority,” he added.