Without a standing panel, MCD work is reduced to crawling

New Delhi: Since they lack an active bank account, 2 lakh of the approximately 7.8 lakh kids enrolled in Delhi Municipal Corporation schools have not yet received their notebooks, stationery, or uniforms.

Gyanesh Bharti, the MCD commissioner, recently explained before the Delhi High Court that he lacked the authority to approve projects costing more than Rs 5 crore and that nothing could be done until the standing committee was established.

Should the situation continue for an extended period, the kids can have the same difficulties throughout this fiscal year as well.
HC noted the dilemma and said on Friday that the Delhi government “must delegate forthwith” the financial responsibility to a suitable body within the next two days if the committee was not accessible.

Experts said that the continuous battle in the MCD between the AAP and BJP was the reason for the lack of a standing committee even 1.5 years after the elections. In addition to the advantages that children in schools are not receiving, there are several more areas where no progress is being made due to the lack of a permanent committee. According to a former director of publicity and communications for the unified company, “the spirit of the DMC Act is getting lost and it is being interpreted as per convenience.”

Many more projects are awaiting committee approval, including the selection of firms for the biomining of 30 lakh tonnes of legacy waste at two landfills, Ghazipur and Bhalswa, the assignment of work for door-to-door waste collection in the central zone, the upkeep of streetlights in specific zones, and the awarding of a new toll contract to a new concessionaire (project cost exceeding Rs 800 crore). The House may provide administrative permission to the authority for the identification of agencies; nevertheless, the standing committee must approve the final rate and agency.

While no court has restricted the conduct of standing committee elections, the AAP has appealed the LG’s appointment of aldermen to the Supreme Court, where a decision is pending. Mayor Shelly Oberoi also moved the SC in January to temporarily move the standing committee’s authority to the House. In this respect, the House has already approved a private measure.

The AAP said in a statement on Saturday that even though this idea was approved in January, the MCD commissioner has not yet presented MCD House with a single proposal for a project costing more than Rs 5 crore.

“If LG wants the work that has been put on hold to be finished, directives should be given to the MCD commissioner to present all proposals totaling more than Rs 5 crore before the MCD House, where they would be approved. The MCD commissioner will then be able to release the bids, according to AAP.

“Under MCD Act 1957, the budget cannot be passed without the approval of the standing committee, but a solution was found, and the budget was presented in the House,” said the party.

The issue with AAP, according to Delhi BJP spokesman Praveen Shankar Kapoor, is that they want to run MCD in the most chaotic way possible. “First, they have not allowed the constitution of the standing committee, and now they want the discretionary powers vested under DMC Act 1957 in the hands of the commissioner to come into the hands of the mayor in the guise of the House,” he said.

Twelve members of the ward committees, one from each of the 12 zones, elect the remaining six members of the standing committee, which are chosen via direct elections held by the House. Aldermen on these ward committees, in turn, have the authority to vote and hence influence the decision-making process when it comes to the standing committee’s establishment.

Even though three BJP and three AAP members were chosen in June 2023 thanks to the intervention of the Delhi High Court, the election of 12 members is still ongoing since zonal committees have not yet been established.