Lok Sabha Clears Bill To Merge Three Municipal Corporations In Delhi

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation Amendment Bill, 2022, which seeks to merge three municipal corporations in the national capital.

The Bill introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah seeks to amend the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 and unify South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) into the "Municipal Corporation of Delhi".

It may be noted that the three bodies, trifurcating the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, were created in 2011 with the passing of Delhi Municipal Corporation Amendment Act by the legislative assembly of Delhi. This is why, the Opposition has criticized the Bill, alleging that it disrupts cooperative Federalism.

As per Congress MP Manish Tewari stated that with the insertion of Part IXA (Municipalities) in the Constitution, with effect from June 1, 1993, the power to constitute Municipalities lies with the state government, in terms of Article 243P and 243R of the Constitution. He added that as per Article 246 of the Constitution read with Schedule VII Entry 5 of the State List, power to constitute Municipal Corporation is with the state.

The Bill introduced by the Centre states that the trifurcation has resulted in uneven territorial division and revenue generating potential between the three corporations. Thus, the Bill proposes to merge them together again.

"The experience of the last ten years shows that the main objective of trifurcation of creating compact municipalities in Delhi to provide more efficient civic services to the public has not been achieved. Instead, owing to inadequacies in resources and uncertainty in fund allocation and release, the three corporations have been facing huge financial hardships, making it difficult for them to maintain the civic services in Delhi at the desired levels," the Statement of Objects annexed to the Bill states.

It also seeks to give control of the unified municipal body to the Central government, by replacing the word "Government" under the Act, with "Central Government" and appointing a Special Officer who will take charge of the body after passing of the Bill.

Furthermore, the Bill proposes that the unified corporation will not have more than 250 seats.

Presently, Section 3A of the 1957 Act provides that the Central Government may, after consultation with the Government, alter the names, increase or diminish the area or any zone. However, with the passing of the Bill, Centre alone would be empowered to make any such changes.

Earlier, BSP MP Ritesh Pandey had said that the Bill is against the spirit of Article 243U of the Constitution, which provides that election to constitute a Municipality shall be completed before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution. However, in this case, a Bill is being introduced after stalling the elections.

Supporting this view, TMC MP Mahua Moitra highlighted that only last week, the Delhi government was constrained to approach the Supreme Court to seeking direction to the state election commissioner (SEC) to expeditiously conduct the municipal elections in the city in a free and fair manner.

NCP MP Supriya Sule questioned the government on bringing "municipal issues" to the Parliament. Citing cooperative federalism, she insisted that the same falls within the state's domain and that the Parliament must focus on larger policy issues.

The Centre on the other hand claims that the Bill does not transgress with the basic structure of the Constitution and that the Parliament is empowered under Article 239AA of the Constitution to add, amend, vary or repeal any law so made by the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

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