Govt says no NoC needed from councillors for work under MLA funds

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution directing municipal corporations that a No Objection Certificate (NOC) will not be needed from councillors

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution directing municipal corporations that a No Objection Certificate (NOC) will not be needed from councillors for works being executed through MLA Local Area Development (LAD) fund.

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The House also resolved that no work of MLALAD should be stopped for want of any approval or consent of the Standing Committee or House of the MCDs.

The speaker of the House had summoned the commissioners of three municipal corporations -- Varsha Joshi of the north body, Gyanesh Bharti of the south corporation, and Dilraj Kaur of the east civic body -- and were present during the discussion.

AAP legislator, Rakhi Birla, initiated the discussion saying she had put up a question to the union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) asking under which law the municipal councillors were “obstructing projects financed under MLALAD fund in their wards.”

“I learnt that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation passed an illegal and unconstitutional proposal on 23 September this year, saying we will have to seek the permission of their BJP councillors before initiating any development works in their areas with our (MLALAD) money,” she said.

This includes works like building and repair of roads, drains and flyovers.

“As a result of this, 78 projects that I had financed in my area, worth Rs. 6 crore, are all pending. I also learnt that the rules and regulations for expenditure of MLALAD fund is exactly the same as in MPLAD fund. If we (Delhi government legislators) don’t ask for an NOC when MPS are executing works in our areas, why should municipal councillors do that?” she asked.

MLA Somnath Bharti also complained that the installation of gazebos, swings and open gymnasiums in parks in his constituency were pending for a long time because of this. “I have been told that this needs to be passed by the Standing Committee of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), but it is not being cleared by them inspite of being put up three to four times,” he complained.

Another legislator, Fateh Singh, said, “The councillors put up conditions like they should be called for inaugurations of these projects, without which they would stall our work.”

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation Standing Committee chairman, Jai Prakash, responded to this discussion at the Legislative Assembly, saying, concurrence with municipal councillors on projects is needed to avoid duplicity of work.

“It has happened often that a road has been repaired by us today and the area MLA gets it dug up again for some project tomorrow. Since the municipal councillors are the ones working on the ground, there has to be some intimations to the councillors as well before such projects commence. That is the only objective of the NOC-related proposal passed on September 23,” he said.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation standing committee chairman Bhupinder Gupta said up till recently, it was the norm that municipal councillors cannot execute any works in unauthorised areas and only the DSIDC (Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation), under the Delhi Government, was authorised to do so.

“Thereby, authorised colonies were entirely the domain of municipalities to do development works. What is the problem if they have to just seek our permission now?” he asked.

ENDS