MCD rejects tour bills of Mehta

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) standing committee on Wednesday rejected a proposal regarding the payment of travel bills incurred by Rakesh Mehta, the municipal commissioner in 2005. HT reports.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) standing committee on Wednesday rejected a proposal regarding the payment of travel bills incurred by Rakesh Mehta, the municipal commissioner in 2005.

HT Image

The proposal said the trip incurred a bill of Rs 2.97 lakh on behalf of Mehta and Rs 2.89 lakh on behalf of Satbir Singh, the then mayor of Delhi. The travel agent who had arranged the tour has been sending the bills to the civic body, asking it to pay the amount or face legal action.

Councillors across parties said the bill should be recovered from Mehta, who is serving as the state election commissioner.

In 2005, Mehta and Singh had visited Washington to attend a conference saying that the travel and lodging costs would be borne by the organisers. However, the MCD was slapped with a bill of nearly Rs 6 lakh — the travel expenses of the two.

As Singh is from the Congress, leader of the opposition Jai Kishan Sharma said the entire bill should be recovered from Mehta, adding that it was the latter who mislead everyone. Mehta misrepresented the facts by saying that the charges would be borne by the organisers. “Why should the corporation bear the bill for his fault?” said Sharma.

In 2005, Mehta had written to the Lieutenant Governor saying that the cost of the trip would be borne by the Washington mayor.