The upcoming meeting of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) of the Municipal Corporation, scheduled in this week where 70 development agendas will be discussed, is set to attract political attention as newly inducted committee members Aman Bagga and Yuvraj Sidhu, sons of two sitting AAP MLAs, will attend the meeting for the first time.
However, their inclusion in the influential committee has triggered a political row, with Congress and BJP councillors alleging that the Mayor violated provisions of the Municipal Corporation Act by nominating the two councillors instead of getting them elected through the House.
According to the law, the committee will comprise the Mayor, the two Deputy Mayors, two councillors elected by the councillors from among themselves and the Municipal Commissioner. The Act further states that the committee is empowered to exercise all powers of the corporation in relation to contracts entered into on its behalf and purchases made by it. The opposition has alleged that the nomination of two councillors by the Mayor, instead of their election by elected councillors as prescribed under the Act, is contrary to the statutory provisions and has sought withdrawal of the appointments.
The opposition has already submitted a written representation to the Mayor, demanding that their councilors should be considered in the F&CC committee. They claimed that the procedure adopted by the civic body was “totally illegal” and undermined democratic norms.
Congress councillor Shyam Sunder Malhotra said the F&CC was one of the most important committees of the corporation as it decides the fate of major development works, tenders and financial proposals. He said transparency in such decisions could only be ensured if opposition councillors were also represented on the committee.
“There are several shortcomings in clearing development project files only through the F&CC. There should be one or two opposition councillors in the committee to maintain transparency. The law clearly provides that councillor members should be elected, not nominated. Moreover, the consent of the House was never taken before including the two members,” Malhotra alleged.
BJP councillor Poonam Rattra accused the ruling AAP of trying to tighten its control over the decision-making process.
“Already, the committee comprises the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner. Now, by adding two AAP councillors through nomination, the ruling party will have complete control over approvals and rejection of development projects and tenders. Its is against democratic principles and completely illegal,” she alleged.
The opposition maintained that the F&CC should not function without adequate representation from opposition councillors if transparency and accountability in civic administration are to be ensured. It also alleged that the ruling party was attempting to centralise decision-making in the committee by bypassing the election process prescribed under the Municipal Corporation Act.
Despite repeated attempts Mayor Inderjit Kaur was not available for comments.
