Unified MCD takes shape as officials get new duties

NEW DELHI: The unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has started taking shape with a slew of appointments including that of heads of five key departments, launching of a common website, and shifting of all offices of the East MCD in Patparganj to the headquarters at the Civic Centre in central Delhi.

The special officer who will shoulder the responsibilities of the deliberative wing or the elected councillors, and the commissioner who will head the executive, took charge on Sunday, after the three MCDS were officially merged into one entity on May 22 under the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, passed by Parliament in April.

Administration

The nine additional commissioners, who will now have their offices at the Civic Centre, have been assigned the responsibilities of key departments across the 12 zones of the unified MCD.

According to officials aware of the matter, Randhir Sahay will head finance, central establishment and toll tax departments; Shilpa Shinde will look after engineering and architecture; Sonal Swaroop will head sanitation, building and town planning; Ram Niwas Sharma will oversee hospital administration and advertisement; Brajesh Singh will head horticulture, law and public health; Amin Ahmed will lead IT and remunerative projects; Sunil Bhadu will oversee community services, press information and elections; Alka Sharma will be in charge of education and veterinary services; and Harleen Kaur will manage factory licensing, land estate, and disaster management.

All zonal deputy commissioners and other officials related to these departments will work under these additional commissioners.

The central establishment department, which is the cadre controlling body, also deputed five heads of departments for education, law, Information technology, vigilance, and press and information on Monday, senior officials aware of this development said, adding that the rest of the departments are expected to be covered in the coming days.

The new administration also changed the zonal deputy commissioners of Rohini and Civil Lines zones on Monday, the officials added.

Though the three civic bodies have been merged into one, the basic structure remains the same. The civic body will continue to have two wings -- deliberative and executive. The deliberative arm, consisting of the elected councillors and standing and ward committees, will be headed by the special officer till elections are held. The executive wing will be headed by the commissioner. The commissioner will be assisted by the additional commissioners and deputy commissioners -- one each heading the 12 administrative zones.

Senior officials who asked not to be named said officers currently on deputation will continue to work, and the contractual staff

has been given extension.

Tax structure

The officials quoted above said that besides administrative restructuring, a comprehensive revamp of the tax and licence regimes is likely soon since all three corporations followed different tax rates, licence fees, and norms. They said that under the unified MCD, it will have to be made uniform and some new classifications may be created to accommodate concessions to various categories of colonies and trades.

“Once all the heads of departments are in place, discussions on bringing uniformity in fees and taxes will begin. In many cases, including property tax, health trade license and factory license, the South MCD used to levy higher fees,” an official involved with the restructuring said.

Though a final decision is yet to be taken, it is likely the tax pattern of SDMC may be followed for zones falling in north and east Delhi. “The unit area method of property assessment was initiated in 2004 but no change has been made in these last 18 years. We will review these tax rates, general trade licences fee and also try to focus on levying taxes on large commercial properties located in unauthorised areas that currently pay meagre or no tax,” the official cited above said.

Website

An IT department official said that a common website of the unified MCD has been made operational. “The regulations and tax regimes are still different in three municipal areas. Therefore, the users are asked to select the service area on the MCD website where they can select the concerned zone, ward or colony. The users are then guided to the appropriate birth or death registration portal, property tax portal and other online services. They can also select the concerned landing page of the old civic bodies for other information such as tenders, departmental data and notifications,” the official said.