Delhi now has one MCD again

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, effectively reunifying the city's three civic bodies back into the single Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

The legislation was approved by the Lok Sabha on March 30 and by the Rajya Sabha on April 5 and was brought in via Parliament even though the initial trifurcation Bill had come through the Delhi Assembly.

"The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 18th April, 2022 and is hereby published for general information: The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022 No. 10 of 2022," said a gazette notification issued by the Centre.

According to the legislation, the unification of the municipal corporations in Delhi will ensure synergised and strategic planning and optimal utilisation of resources.

While the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party here got into a slugfest about the timing for this move, this will, for now, delay the civic elections, scheduled for April this year, by at least a year if not more. Now, the Centre will appoint a Special Officer to run the civic body and see it through the delimitation exercise — in which the number of wards is set to decrease. And only after this, can the fresh elections be held.

Replying to debates on the legislation in the Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said the move was necessitated due to the "step-motherly treatment" meted out to the civic bodies by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.

"This bill is in accordance with the Constitution. The Centre has the power to enact laws in the Union Territory of Delhi.... This bill, from no angle, is an attack on the federal structure," the Union home minister had said, allaying the concerns raised by some Opposition members.

According to the legislation, the total number of seats of councillors and the number of seats reserved for the members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities in the corporation, shall, at the time of the establishment of the corporation, be as determined by the Centre and in no case, be more than 250.

Upon the completion of each census after the establishment of the corporation, the number of seats shall be on the basis of the city's population as ascertained at that census and shall be determined by the Centre.

And despite gearing up for the merger, employees of the three civic bodies have complained that they are unsure of what their futures hold. A senior South MCD official said that since nobody knows how the merger will affect each department, employees have adopted a lax attitude towards their pending projects.

Officials added that several positions were created within the three civic bodies when they were trifurcated, several low-level employees were promoted to higher posts and many new opportunities arose, but with the merger ahead, the future of those posts and officials remains uncertain.

Echoing similar sentiments, an East MCD official from the finance department said, "East MCD had several projects on the PPP model and until the process of reunification was announced, many new projects were being conceived and worked upon but now that the unification has been confirmed, employees fear that their projects will not see the light of day, therefore, they have either stopped work on them altogether or adopted a very relaxed approach towards them."

Several employees have also questioned the financial aspect of the merger and have asked how it could possibly solve any financial liabilities since the incoming revenue will remain the same and expenditure might increase. The East MCD official explained that the MCD has not increased tax rates since 2004, but their expenditure, employees, projects, etc have definitely increased. "Keeping this in mind, MCD will not see any financial growth until tax rates, service rates, etc are increased", they said.

While several employees are questioning the reunification, some have said that the MCD might benefit from the reunification as it will become an essential centre of power within the National Capital.