Manoj Kumar Mishra
The Delhi Election Commission, instead of announcing the date of municipal elections, just a day before the results of the five state assembly elections, informed that the central government is planning to merge the three corporations of Delhi as before 2012. Chief Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Srivastava said that now the date of election will be announced after a few days.
After the marginalization of the Congress in Delhi politics and winning the Punjab Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is on a high. It feels that it will easily defeat the BJP, which has been in power in Delhi’s corporations for 15 years. The way the election was postponed, the same message has been sent to the general public.
In fact, if the political parties want to make any changes in the governance system of Delhi, then they have to seriously debate the existing governance system. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has raised the question as to why the talk of merging the three corporations was done before the date of the elections approached. After the formation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 1957, its form has been changing. Not only this, his rights were continuously curtailed. After the formation of the Metropolitan Council ten years later and the Legislative Assembly in 1993, much of its powers were curtailed. Despite this, the Municipal Corporation is still powerful. It is a different matter that more officers have more authority than the elected councilors of the corporation.
Like the Delhi government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is also autonomous. Sheila Dikshit, who was the Chief Minister of Delhi for 15 years, was troubled by the self-governing municipal corporation from the very beginning. She wanted to bring the Municipal Corporation of Delhi under the Delhi government in the same way as the corporations there are under the state government in other states. If she was not successful in this endeavor, she formed a committee for the reorganization of the corporations.
First the seats of the corporation were increased from 138 to 272, then it was divided into three parts. In 87 percent areas of Delhi, the power of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi runs parallel to the Delhi government. Delhi Municipal Corporation was formed in 1957. In 1966, the Municipal Council was formed, due to which the powers of the corporation were reduced somewhat. By dissolving the Metropolitan Council in 1989, Delhi got a Legislative Assembly with limited powers through the 69th Constitutional Amendment in 1991 on the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission and the Balakrishna Committee.
Assembly elections were held in 1993. The leaders who framed the Constitution had decided that Delhi would remain a Union Territory. The Delhi Legislative Assembly has been assigned 63 subjects out of 66 in the State List. The Delhi Cabinet can decide on these independently. This is what the Supreme Court said in its decision of July 4, 2018 to control the officers, the bench of the court is hearing.
Congress and BJP were the only powerful then
Before AAP became powerful in Delhi, Congress and BJP (first Jan Sangh, then Janata Party) were the only two parties that were powerful in Delhi. Most of the governance at the center was done by the Congress, so the BJP used to run the movement to make Delhi a state and later to make Delhi a full state. Congress raised this issue for the first time when Sheila Dikshit’s government was formed in Delhi. Then the central government had cut the powers of the Delhi government by issuing two circulars. Sheila Dikshit opposed it. Took a march with the MLAs till the Parliament. The resolution of full statehood for Delhi was passed in the assembly. But the central government did not make any changes in it.
Then Sheila Dikshit launched a campaign to completely subjugate the Delhi government, the parallel power center running parallel to the Delhi government. He got only partial success in that. The wards of the corporation became smaller, they were divided into three places but its self-governing system did not change. The Urban Development Secretary of the Delhi Government oversees the corporations but all the three corporations of Delhi are directly under the Lieutenant Governor through the Central Government. On the basis of the recommendations of the Finance Commission of Delhi, the Delhi government gives money to the corporations for the cleanliness of Delhi.
One or three municipal corporations, what about the conveniences?
It is beyond the comprehension of the common man that by making one corporation into three corporations or making three corporations one again, he will be able to do more good to the people. It is possible that if three corporations become one, then the expenses on many office bearers including three mayors should be reduced, instead of having separate meetings of three corporations, meetings should be held together, but this will neither end the loss of thousands of crores nor Common people will get more convenience.