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.