The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to merge the three municipal corporations in the national capital, was on Friday introduced in the Lok Sabha amid objections by opposition parties.
As per the Bill, the unified municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be “a single, integrated and well-equipped entity”, and will not have more than 250 wards. At present, Delhi has 272 wards under the north, south and east municipal corporations. The Bill was introduced by minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai as Union home minister Amit Shah is in Uttar Pradesh for the swearing-in ceremony of chief minister Yogi Adtiyanath. The move was opposed by the Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Revolutionary Socialtist Party, who said that it was not only against the federal structure of India, but also that the powers to amend laws pertaining to MCDs lie with the elected state government. The Bill intends to give the central government more power over “the corporation” as against the elected state government as it mentions that the word “government” in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act (DMC), 1957 will be replaced with “central government” everywhere. The Bill also states that everything — from appointing a special officer during the transition phase (from three MCDs to one) to delimitation of the new wards — will be done by the central government through a gazette notification.
