MCD merger: New Commissioner, special officer to be appointed to run unified MCD

New Delhi: With three municipal bodies in Delhi set to be unified on Monday, the exercise to reshuffle and reorganise their staff will begin with the appointment of a new commissioner and a special officer to run the unified MCD next week.

The Centre on Wednesday issued a notification saying the three civic bodies of Delhi will be formally merged on May 22.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, the Centre will appoint a "special officer" to run the new, unified civic body until the first meeting of the corporation is held.

A senior official of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation said that after the unification next step would be the appointment of a special officer and new commissioner.

"Both these appointments are likely to be done by the Centre in the next week. The new commissioner will begin the process of reorganising the staff as it has to be curtailed.

"Currently there are three HODs in each department of the three civic bodies but after the unification, there will be one HOD in the department. All this will have to be sorted out after the unification of municipalities," the official told PTI.

The official explained that currently there are three Engineer-in-Chief (EnC) in North, South and East corporations but after the merger, there will be only one.

By May 22, all the three civic bodies will be dissolved, paving the way for a unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation's (NDMC) term ended on Thursday, while the EDMC will complete its term on May 22.

The term of the elected representatives of the SDMC has already ended on Wednesday.

An expert on civic matters and former chairman of the MCD Works Committee, Jagdish Mamgai, said that the Centre's notification has paved the way for the appointment of the new commissioner and a special officer who have to run the unified MCD.

"The Centre should already have appointed the commissioner by now, but this process is likely to be conducted next week. The commissioner will then start the process of reshuffling of the staff, which may take some time," he said.

Mamgai added that in the absence of an elected body in the municipal corporation, there will be no policy-making exercises and the meetings of the House and the Standing Committee will also not be held.

Bureaucrats will run the civic body and ensure that obligatory duties function without any issue.

Civic authorities said after the unification of the three civic bodies, nearly 700 employees will become "surplus" and it will be a challenge for the new system to accommodate them.

"Those working on deputation will be repatriated to their parent departments to accommodate the number of employees in the unified MCD," a civic official said.

A bill to unify the three civic bodies was approved by the Lok Sabha on March 30 and by the Rajya Sabha on April 5. The bill became an Act after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to it on April 18.

The Act reduces the number of wards in the national capital to 250 from the existing 272, which means that the MCD will have to undergo a delimitation exercise before the election. The Centre will form a delimitation commission to carry out the demarcation of wards.