Home ministry not in favour of NDMC as an elected body

A Parliamentary panel has voiced near-unanimous views for turning NDMC into an elected body but the home ministry has opposed it saying the area has a special character and that most members of such a council may be from families of government servants which may "politicise" them.

A Parliamentary panel has voiced near-unanimous views for turning NDMC into an elected body but the home ministry has opposed it saying the area has a special character and that most members of such a council may be from families of government servants which may "politicise" them.

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The minutes of five meetings of Standing Committee on Home, held from September 30, 2010 to January 5, 2011, on New Delhi Municipal Council (Amendment) Bill showed that most of the members favoured having elected representatives for NDMC rather than nominated ones, as is the present practice.

The Union home ministry, however, told the committee that it is not in favour of such a move, according to the minutes which were tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The NDMC (Amendment) Bill sought to make certain changes in the present structure of the body, including reducing the number of MLAs to two, as only two constituencies fall within its area after delimitation.

It said the number of members from various fields be increased to four, including one Scheduled Caste (SC) member, while the body as a whole should have at least three women and two SC members.

The ministry felt that as two-thirds of the population is from families of government employees, majority of the council members will be family members of government servants.