Focus now shifts to Standing Committee polls, fast-tracking development works in city

Focus now shifts to Standing Committee polls, fast-tracking development works in city

With the Supreme Court upholding the appointment of aldermen in the MCD, the focus has shifted to the civic body Standing Committee polls, which has been pending for over a year and a half now.

However, official sources said the election to the 18-member panel may not take place anytime soon as the city’s 250 councillors are yet to elect members of the 12 zonal committees, which send representatives to the Standing Committee.

The constitution of the Standing Committee has been pending since the mayoral polls in March 2023 as the ruling AAP and the BJP fought for control over the panel, which is the civic body’s main decision-making arm that has executive powers to grant approval to projects worth over ₹5 crore.

Six members of the panel, three each from both parties, were elected by the MCD House at the time of the mayoral polls. The rest 12 are required to be elected by the zonal committees.

AAP had approached the top court fearing that if the Centre-appointed was L-G allowed to nominate the aldermen, it would give an edge to the BJP as the nominated members would have the right to vote in the zonal committee elections.

The L-G can appoint a maximum of 10 aldermen to the civic body on the basis of their special knowledge or experience in the municipal administration.

An MCD official said despite the court order, the Standing Committee elections would take time. He said while the aldermen can vote in the proceedings of the zonal committees, they have no voting rights in the Standing Committee or the MCD House.

Another MCD official said the constitution of the crucial panel will speed up development works as several projects have been stuck. He said currently the MCD is taking “ad hoc measures”.

“We have extended previous contracts so that essential services do not collapse altogether. For instance, in the central zone, waste collection contracts need to be re-visited, but we extended their tenure in the absence of the panel. Similar issues came up in the case of managing our landfills,” he said.

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Delhi

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