Currently, the complex overlapping administrative arrangements for Delhi include the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Cantonment Board. The MCD had elected representatives under an April 1958 Act and the municipal commissioner used to report to the LG. This Act was amended in 1993 and now there are three municipal corporations for north, south and east Delhi. The NDMC, which administers Lutyens' Delhi, is headed by a central government appointee.
Another part of Delhi comes under the Cantonment Board, which is responsible for sanitation, education, water supply and public health. However, it cannot levy taxes and is funded by the Government of India. Delhi Cantonment was established in 1914 and the Cantonments Act of 2006 is administered by the Directorate General Defence Estates, New Delhi.
More From This Section
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was set up under the Delhi Development Act of 1957 and is headed by a deputy chairman. It is responsible for acquisition and development of land in implementation of the so called "Master Plan" for Delhi. The LG is DDA's ex-officio chairman.
Although Delhi is overwhelmingly urban, some of its socio-economic and air-quality indicators are inferior to several states (in 2011 about 97.5 per cent of Delhi's population of 17 million was urban and its population density was 11,297 persons per square km, compared to the all-India average of 382). For instance, Delhi's ratio of slum to total population is 18 per cent compared to six per cent in Assam and 8.3 per cent in Goa. In 2011, infant mortality per 1,000 live births was 33 in Delhi compared to 28 in Tamil Nadu, 31 in Maharashtra and 11 in Goa. (Source: Socio-economic Indicators, November 2011, MoSPI).
To recapitulate the evolution of Delhi's governance, Delhi became a Part "C" state as per the Part "C" States Act of 1951. The powers of a "C" state were circumscribed e.g. land, police and public order were outside its purview. Chaudhary Brahm Prakash of the Congress party was the first Chief Minister (CM) of Delhi from 1952 to 1956. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru revoked Delhi's status even as a "C" state under the States' Reorganisation Act of 1956 because it was felt that the central government should have sole jurisdiction over Delhi. From 1956 to 1993 there was no Delhi CM and the LG was the unquestioned authority.
The proponents of full statehood for Delhi continued to maintain that NCTD citizens deserve to be represented in a state legislature and that decentralisation helps improve administration. Eventually, the Government of NCTD Act was passed in 1992 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Madan Lal Khurana became Delhi's CM in 1993. The minority government of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao needed the opposition's assistance, but full statehood was not granted to Delhi despite BJP agitating for it.
In today's fractious Indian politics, different parties ruling at the Centre and running Delhi's state government is a recipe for lack of coordination and worse. Ever since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in Delhi with an overwhelming majority, it has had ugly confrontations with the LG. On August 4, the Delhi High Court ruled that even in matters in which Delhi's legislative Assembly has powers to make laws, consequent orders can only be issued if the "Lt Governor does not take a different view". This judgment has unequivocally given primacy to the LG over Delhi's CM. The Delhi government has decided to appeal against this decision in the Supreme Court.
In 1996, in a taxation case that involved NDMC and the state of Punjab, the Supreme Court had ruled that Delhi was not a state. In 2008, the Supreme Court reconfirmed its 1996 decision and also decided that Delhi's legislature is subordinate to the Parliament.
Delhi houses the Parliament, Supreme Court, the President, Prime Minister and central government ministers and sensitive installations. Central intelligence agencies and police are responsible for monitoring and managing its security. This is the reasoning behind the Commissioner of Police (CP), an office that was created in 1978 based on the Khosla Commission report, reporting to the Union government's Ministry of Home Affairs and not the Delhi government. The central government consistently maintains that policing cannot be assigned to the Delhi government.
The multiplicity of power centres that manage Delhi has impacted its administration negatively. Accountability is bound to be missing when there is plausible deniability about jurisdiction. Consequently, the Government of NCTD Act of 1992, MCD, DDA and all other such Acts should be repealed. Fresh and overarching legislation should make the central government solely and wholly responsible for running Delhi. The concern that federalism would be endangered is misplaced. In the US and Australia, the central government has the last word in administering their respective capitals.
The Prime Minister could effectively also be the CM of Delhi, assisted by a Cabinet minister with coordination responsibility for Delhi. The post of LG could be abolished and replaced by a chief commissioner, with the rank of Cabinet secretary, to whom all administrative heads called commissioners and the commissioner of police could report. The chief commissioner/commissioners would report to the central government ministers concerned. That is, central ministers would also be Delhi's ministers. Delhi's budget would be passed by Parliament. It follows that Delhi's citizens would vote only in Lok Sabha elections and not for a state legislature. That would be a small price to pay for clear lines of accountability.
j.bhagwati@gmail.com