With mayoral polls delayed, spl officer to continue, new dates to be sought from LG office

Municipal officials said the process will have to be initiated from the scratch with a proposal being moved to the LG office via the Delhi government’s urban development department.

Forty-nine days after the residents of Delhi elected 250 councillors to run the unified municipal body, a Special Officer continues to hold the charge as the people’s representatives are yet to elect a mayor and a deputy mayor to formally take over the affairs at the civic body.

The MCD Civic Centre in New Delhi. (File)

With the second MCD House meeting being adjourned on Tuesday without concluding the mayoral elections, the lieutenant governor’s office will have to now fix another date for convening the House.

Municipal officials said the process will have to be initiated from the scratch with a proposal being moved to the LG office via the Delhi government’s urban development department.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, under the three civic bodies in Delhi were unified, the Special Officer would have ceased to hold office with the first meeting of the elected House. A MCD spokesperson, however, said they are consulting the legal department over the “grey area”.

“The chief law officer has been consulted. We are of the opinion that the Special Officer will continue to hold office till the mayoral elections are concluded. Similarly, the process for holding the next house meeting will have be re-initiated with proposed dates being sent to the urban development department. The minister will send the proposal to the LG office for a final decision. The entire process will have to be repeated,” the spokesperson said.

Former chief law officer of MCD Anil Gupta said that the matter has now entered a complicated phase whereby there are no written instructions. “In my opinion, the first meeting of the House has not yet concluded as the agenda items pertaining to the election of mayor, deputy mayor and six standing committee members have not been taken up. Merely oath taking does not complete the proceedings. The deliberative wing will be in place after the mayoral election,” he added. Gupta, however, differed over the matter of holding the next house meeting. “The meeting has been adjourned and the presiding officer should be deciding the next date for continuing the house,” he added.

A second municipal official from the law department said that the matter is now akin to a constitutional crisis and the LG office or the MHA should clarify on the legal status of the special officer and continuing the house meetings. “This has no precedent and there is no laid down procedure to deal with such a situation,” the official said. LG office did not comment on the next course of action. The presiding officer Satya Sharma said that she will brief the lieutenant governor on Wednesday regarding the developments of the house on 24 January 2023.