New Delhi, April 27
For the last few months, several works of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have been stalled. The children studying in the MCD schools have not yet received books, school bags, and school uniform, the reason for which is the inability to constitute a Standing Committee. The financial powers of the MCD Commissioner are limited to approving contracts up to Rs 5 crore, due to which big contracts worth over Rs 5 crore could not be approved by him. Earlier, tenders and contracts worth more than Rs 5 crore were approved by the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation and after that the MCD Commissioner used to issue tenders for the work. This was to ensure that the Commissioner did not enjoy unbridled power and remained accountable to the elected corporation.
The Lieutenant Governor (LG) illegally appointed the BJP officials as aldermen, due to which the Standing Committee has not been formed till date. Today, the biggest reason for this problem of the MCD is the political attitude of the LG. Due to non-formation of Standing Committee, projects or works worth more than Rs 5 crore are on hold.
To overcome this issue, the MCD had passed a resolution in which all the powers of the Standing Committee were given to the Municipal Corporation House so that works worth over Rs 5 crore could be approved by the MCD House.
A tender amounting to more than Rs 5 crore cannot be passed by the MCD Commissioner and because the Standing Committee of the MCD has not been formed for the last one and a half years, owing to this many important works are stalled. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, the MCD House had passed a resolution in January, in which it was said that all the powers of the Standing Committee, should be given to the MCD House, so that the projects worth more than Rs 5 crore can be passed by the MCD house itself. So that the works of the Municipal Corporation do not get hampered.
Mr. Lieutenant Governor, please tell why despite this proposal being passed in January, till date the MCD Commissioner has not placed even a single proposal for works worth more than Rs 5 crores before the MCD House?
If the LG wants that the stalled work should be completed, then instructions should be issued to the MCD Commissioner that he should place all the proposals amounting to more than Rs 5 crore before the MCD House, and we will get them passed in the MCD House. After that, the MCD Commissioner can issue the tenders.
Under the MCD Act 1957, the budget of MCD cannot be passed without the approval of the Standing Committee but a solution was found for that too. Considering the seriousness of the fact that the Municipal Corporation had to be run, all the powers of the Standing Committee were given to the MCD House, so that the House could directly pass the budget of the MCD and it could be run smoothly.
The question to the Lieutenant Governor is that what objection does he have, if the MCD’s budget can be passed by the House, then all such tenders costing more than Rs 5 crore can also be passed by the House?
If the powers of the MCD Commissioner will be increased beyond the amount of Rs 5 crore, then the accountability of the Commissioner towards the elected House and the MCD Councillors will completely end. The MCD Commissioner comes directly under the LG, then the Lieutenant Governor will run the MCD as per his arbitrary rules. Then what is the meaning of MCD elections?
The Lieutenant Governor should order the MCD Commissioner that any tender for works worth more than Rs 5 crore should first be presented before the MCD House and after the approval of the House, the MCD Commissioner should issue the tender related to that work. Not only will the work of the House run smoothly, but his accountability towards the elected Municipal Corporation and the elected councillors will remain in place. The Councillors, who have been elected by the people of Delhi and sent to the MCD House, will be able to get the work done through the Commissioner in public interest.
