NEW DELHI: Having failed to prevail over the Centre to transfer powers to Delhi government under all 23 sections of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act the city government has now decided to set up a committee of experts to draft a brand new Municipal Law to replace an “outdated” Act.

The Centre had agreed on delegating powers of 17 of the 23 sections the state had sought control over with regard to the MCD. But it has turned down the state’s repeated bids to gain control over the remaining six sections.

In view of the Centre’s unenthusiastic response, the Delhi Government seems to have hit a dead end and so the Delhi cabinet under chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday decided to set-up a committee to put in place a draft legislation to replace the existing DMC Act. The change aimed for would be nothing short of an overhaul though it could still need the concurrence of the Centre to be implemented.

The city government feels that a new look at municipal laws to end lingering doubts on jurisdiction and to simply keep pace with the rapid growth of the Capital was now overdue. The cabinet has argued that patchwork amendments do not adequately serve the purpose of discharging effective urban civic services to the fullest satisfaction of the needs of the city today. Delhi’s municipal corporation needed to be in consonance with existing conditions so that anomalies, contradictions and conflicts in roles and responsibilities of the local and state government are cleared up.

The government has also justifying its role in framing the law citing the clauses under the 74th amendment that puts the onus on the state to enact a new law for Municipalities which is a state function. The city government hopes the Centre would allow it to frame a new law for all areas falling outside the NDMC. The government feels that it can attached experts and consultants to such a committee to help frame a modern municipal act.

The cabinet was reminded by senior officials on Wednesday that the state had proposed to the Centre that powers under 23 different sections of the DMC Act be transferred to it. However, the union ministry of Home Affairs through a notification in September last year delegated powers to the state government in 17 areas. Again here too in about five sections the delegation of powers in not complete where it has been laid out that decision by the state will be taken in consultation with the Centre, sources said.

The CM then approached the Home ministry reinforcing the need for transferring the remaining six sections of the Act to the state. But the Centre has responded with suggestions but not transferred the powers, top sources confirmed. The observations of the Centre show that in most of the undelegated or insufficiently delegated provisions either the union ministry has agreed to transfer them later or has taken a peripheral procedural course of argument for not agreeing to the proposal.

The cabinet was informed that the time is ripe for such transfer of power and the Centre should be yet again requested without any further delay in view of the Games. Almost cold shouldered by the union government, the state is gearing up to draft a new municipal law.