Centre Notifies Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, Three Civic Bodies Unified

The government will also appoint a Special Officer, to discharge the functions of the Corporation.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Government of India on Tuesday, 19 April, notified the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act 2022 merging Delhi's East, South, and North Delhi Municipal Corporations into one – to be called the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

The government will also appoint a special officer, to discharge the functions of the corporation.

This comes two weeks after the Rajya Sabha on 5 April passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2022. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had told the Upper House that the Delhi government was a giving step-motherly treatment to three MCDs.

The former Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was trifurcated in 2012, creating North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. Shah had said, "When the civic body was trifurcated, the objective must have been good: To give better services to residents. But this has not been the result."

He had claimed that there was no uniformity in policies adopted by the three civic bodies and their economic resources and responsibilities were not assessed properly.

The new MCD act comes ahead of the polls for Delhi's civic body.

The Row Over MCD Poll Delay

The state election commission (SEC) of Delhi on 9 March – the day it was to announce the dates for Delhi’s three civic body polls – had said that the MCD polls were being deferred, citing a communication from Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

Reportedly, Baijal had conveyed to the SEC that the Centre was intending to pass legislation to merge the three municipal corporations of Delhi.

Reacting to the deferment, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 23 March had said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will quit politics if the BJP allows the polls to be conducted on time and still wins them.

"We will leave politics if BJP gets the MCD polls held now and wins it," Kejriwal had said, issuing a challenge to the Centre.

"BJP is postponing MCD elections so that all three municipal corporations of Delhi can be unified. Can elections be postponed because of this? Tomorrow they will be losing Gujarat, so can they avoid that saying that they are uniting Gujarat and Maharashtra? Can Lok Sabha elections be postponed by making such an excuse?" he had added.