The Hindu 23.09.2014
No funds, but civic bodies plan to give leaders cars
Lack of funds to pay salaries has been a constant complaint of political leaders in the Capital’s municipal corporations. But the same councillors seem to have forgotten as the North and East civic bodies have recently passed resolutions to give cars and drivers to the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition.
An advocate in the Delhi High Court, Subodh Jain, on Monday sent a legal notice regarding the same to the Lieutenant-Governor, the Director of Local Bodies and the commissioners of the three corporations.
“These are political appointees and not statutory posts under the Delhi Municipal Act, so giving cars to the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition is illegal. If the corporations do not take back these privileges before October 22, I will file a PIL,” said Mr. Jain.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee had passed a resolution giving the perks to Leader of the House Mira Aggarwal and Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Goel last week. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation had passed a similar resolution over a month ago and the cars have been handed over to the leaders this month.
But there is no such proposal in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. In fact, in an RTI reply to Mr. Jain on September 18, the SDMC said the posts were not mentioned in the DMC Act at all, so giving those who hold the positions any perks would be out of the question.
When asked about the move, Ms. Aggarwal said the proposal was yet to be passed by the House. Ms. Aggarwal was not present in the Standing Committee when BJP councillor Virender Babbar introduced the resolution and Congress councillor Prithvi Singh Rathor seconded it.
“It was under his right to move a private member resolution, but its implementation will depend on the Commissioner’s report on the same,” said Ms. Aggarwal, declining to comment on the legal notice.
The BJP and the Congress, who can never see eye to eye, managed to be on the same page when it came to cars for their leaders. Interestingly, North Corporation Mayor Yogender Chandolia met the Chief Secretary on Monday to ask the Delhi Government to release funds for the education sector.
Currently, the Mayors and Standing Committee chairpersons of the civic bodies have official cars, drivers in three shifts and funds for petrol. According to the Budget for 2014-2015, the Mayor and the chairperson get Rs.5.50 lakh for petrol in the entire year. Apart from that, the Mayor gets Rs.3.50 lakh for expenses and the Standing Committee chairperson gets Rs.4.50 lakh annually.
While there is no provision under the DMC Act, the leaders of the house and opposition get an office and staff. For 2014-2015, the two political leaders are given Rs.72,000 for expenses. A senior North Corporation official said though there was no provision for the cars in the budget, it could be added in the revised budget to be presented in December.
