The formation of the Municipal Corporation’s most powerful Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) has triggered protests, with the Opposition warning that the matter could soon land in court. Alleging arbitrary appointments, lack of opposition representation and unbalanced regional distribution, senior Congress councillors said the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was undermining democratic traditions.
Mayor Inderjit Kaur on Wednesday completed the six-member panel by inducting Aman Bagga, son of MLA Madan Lal Bagga, and Yuvraj Sidhu, son of MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu.
The committee now comprises Mayor Inderjit Kaur, Senior Deputy Mayor Rakesh Parashar, Deputy Mayor Prince Johar, Municipal Commissioner Ojasvi Alankar, Aman Bagga and Yuvraj Sidhu. Not a single councillor from opposition parties has been included in the panel.
Former Senior Deputy Mayor Shyam Sunder Malhotra accused the ruling party of bypassing the MC General House and said: “If the appointments are not withdrawn, we will challenge them in court.”
He pointed out that traditionally, one opposition member was always accommodated in the F&CC.
Congress councillor Gaurav Bhatti called the move “a disgrace to democracy”.
He said the government was ignoring law and democratic traditions, adding that proper elections should have been held. The voice of the opposition has been deliberately suppressed by the ruling party.
The new composition has also sparked debate over regional representation. Both North constituency and Atam Nagar now enjoy double representation as Parashar and Bagga are from North and Johar and Sidhu are from Atam Nagar while South, Central and West constituencies have been left out.
Political circles see it as a tilt towards influence rather than balance.
Punjab Congress secretary Dhruv Aggarwal demanded that MLA Madan Lal Bagga should issue a “white paper” on how many youths outside his family have secured government jobs. He alleged that while the government claims to have given 65,000 jobs but the reality was something different. Aggarwal listed multiple family members of Bagga were drawing salaries from the state exchequer and urged transparency through public disclosures.
BJP councillor Rohit Sikka termed the appointments as “open bullying and corruption”, alleging that the Mayor and the Commissioner acted under pressure from ruling party MLAs.
He warned that the Opposition would press for cancellation of the appointments, saying: “It’s nothing but a mockery of democracy”.
Despite repeated attempts, the Mayor was not available for her comments.
