The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday issued a notification to amalgamate the three municipal corporations into a single entity. From May 22, the South, North and East MCDs will be treated as one Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022 (10 of 2022), the Central Government hereby appoints the 22nd day of May, 2012 to Corporation Delhi will be constituted,” reads the MHA notification.
News18 had first reported on May 13 that the notification would be issued by the MHA this week.
According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2022, the central government will appoint a “special officer” to run the new unified civic body till the first meeting of the corporation takes place.
An additional chief secretary level officer is likely to be appointed as a “special officer” as mandated in the amended MCD Act. According to sources, 1988-batch IAS officer Gyanesh Bharti, who is currently the head of South MCD, is the senior among the contenders.
In the absence of an MHA notification to appoint a “Special Officer”, the powers of the MCD Commissioner may be vested in the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. However, after the resignation of Anil Baijal too, speculations are being made about the leadership of the Unified MCD. “If the LG has resigned, he can be requested to continue in the post till the appointment of a successor,” a Home Ministry official said.
The work for the “special officer” will be cut short as he takes charge amid the ongoing bulldozer politics in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the term of South Delhi Municipal Corporation ended today, while the other two bodies – North Delhi Municipal Corporation and East DMC will complete their term on May 19 and May 22 respectively.
The law to unite the three civic bodies was approved by the Lok Sabha on 30 March and the Rajya Sabha on 5 April. The law became an Act after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the bill on 18 April.
The move to merge the three municipal bodies had triggered a political blame game with Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party terming it a “tactic to delay elections”.
The Act reduces the number of wards to 250 from the existing 272, which means the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will have to undergo a delimitation exercise before the elections. The Center will constitute a Delimitation Commission to demarcate the wards.
The State Election Commission was supposed to announce the dates for the civic polls on March 8, but had to defer the announcement. The then state election commissioner had said that the commission had received a communication from the Center regarding the integration of the three municipal bodies an hour before the announcement.
(With inputs from reporter Arunima and news agency PTI)
read all Breaking News , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.