New Delhi: Almost every year, the employees and pensioners of the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi – North, South and East – hold protests or move courts against the non-payment or delay in payment of their wages or pensions. And each time, the standard reply they receive from the municipal bodies is that they can only do so when the Delhi government releases funds.It is interesting to note that while the salaries of corporation employees and pensioners usually get delayed, the elected councillors never encounter the same problem with regard to their salaries and perks. Similarly, Delhi legislators never face a problem with their salaries, no matter how grave the financial crisis.HC has repeatedly asked for timely release of salaries, pensionsThe matter always lands up in the Delhi high court and a reading of the court directions in 2016, 2018 and 2020 reveals that hardly anything ever changes.Each time, the high court has had to remind the civic bodies and the government that it is their duty to pay the salaries and pensions, and as subsequent protests reveal, little heed is paid to these orders.In 2016, after a MCD employee died by suicide, the Delhi high court told the elected Aam Aadmi Party government and the BJP-led municipal corporations that it was their “responsibility to pay salaries” and that it was “not concerned” with the disputes between them.Again in 2018, it directed the Delhi government to release funds to the municipal bodies or face contempt.Municipal workers not paid during COVID pandemicThis November, the court came to the defence of the municipal workers, who were on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, as it held that the corporation employees and pensioners were facing the pinch and directed that their arrears be released urgently. It also lamented that the pensioners had not been paid since April despite them “possessing limited resources” to go through the “period of pandemic with hardly any nest egg left to tide over”.Also read: Inept Welfare Board, Unpaid Dues Leave Delhi’s Construction Workers High and DryThe latest observation of the high court came as it heard petitions relating to the non-payment of salaries of employees and pensioners from doctors, nurses, paramedic staff, safai karamcharis, teachers, class-IV employees and retired staff of the civic bodies.Yet, just four days after the order, there was a protest by civic body workers to seek release of their pending salaries. At the protest, an employee named Shakuntala Devi claimed that she had not been paid her salary since June 4. In fact, most North MCD employees claimed they had not been paid since June.Mayors protesting outside CM residence for release of duesWith pressure mounting on them to release the salaries and pensions, the mayors of the three BJP-led corporations sat on a ‘dharna’ outside the Delhi chief minister’s residence on December 7 to demand release of funds “due to the civic bodies”. They claimed that Rs 13,000 crore was due to the three corporations from the Delhi government.The ruling AAP countered the move through a protest by its own MLAs at the same place against the alleged corruption in the three civic bodies. It claimed the Mayors’ protest was “only an excuse by their high-command to harass chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and distract from the issue of nationwide farmers protests.”AAP claims corruption in civic bodiesSubsequently, AAP also alleged a Rs 2,500 crore ‘fraud’ in the North MCD and staged a march to Union home minister Amit Shah’s residence on November 13 to seek a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the matter. Senior AAP leader Atishi charged that while the North MCD claimed it did not have money to pay salaries, it had waived off Rs 2,500 crore payable by South MCD. “If you check the accounts of South MCD of the last many years, they clearly state that Rs 2,500 crore was the payable rent for the SDMC office at Civic Center which is owned by the North MCD. But in this year’s budget, the rent payable is shown as 0. The question is, where is this Rs 2,500 crore?” she asked. Delhi finance minister Satyendar Jain too ordered a probe into this charge of misappropriation of funds.AAP MLA Raghav Chadha being detained by police ahead of a planned protest against the alleged misappropriation of funds by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), outside home minister Amit Shah’s residence in New Delhi. Photo: PTIHowever, the BJP denied the charge, saying there was no misappropriation and that South MCD owed the rent since 2012 when the trifurcation of the MCDs happened. He claimed that a provision for waiver on the rent payment was made in the current Budget, but it is still awaiting the approval of the House.North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash termed AAP’s claims as “nothing but a diversionary tactic by government to not release our dues”.Why is this a Delhi-specific problem?While there are elected civic bodies in all state and union territories, the wrangling over funds is unique to Delhi for three primary reasons.One, Delhi is not a complete state and the elected government does not have a full control over the corporations. The Centre has a direct control over the corporations since the MCD was created by Parliament in 1957 through the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and was led by the Municipal Commissioner of Delhi, who was appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.Through an amendment in the Act in 2011, the Corporation was trifurcated and now the MHA appoints a commissioner to lead each of the three corporations. The 2011 amendment also led to creation of the post of Director of Local Bodies to coordinate the functioning of the three corporations.Transfer of funds remains the most ticklish issueWhile the amendments sought to streamline the functioning of the corporations, the chaos over the past decade shows they failed to achieve the objectives, partly because of the issue of flow of grants from the Centre to the corporations happening via the Delhi government.Since 2014-15, the BJP has ruled at the Centre and in the three corporations while AAP has been in power in the Delhi Government. This has led to major conflict over the issue of transfer and allocation of funds.Even this time, Kejriwal has claimed that it was not his government that has to release the money to the corporations but the Centre which has pay them Rs 12,000 crore. “The Centre gives grants to all municipal corporations across the country, based a formula of Rs 485 per person of the population. However, it is not paying grants to the three MCDs for the last 10 years,” he said.Also read: ‘Inadvertent Omission’ Denying Delhi Rs 6,500 Crore in Central Taxes: KejriwalHis argument stemmed from the fact that as per the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission, the Centre gives a grant of Rs 2.87 lakh crore to state governments of which Rs 87,144 crore is meant for municipalities.North MCD Mayor Jai Prakash countered this saying there was no such provision in the current financial rules to allow for release of funds by the Centre since Delhi is a Union Territory. “When there is no such financial provision currently, how can the Centre release the funds? The CM is diverting from the issue,” he charged.The crux of the problem, the corporations insist, is that the Delhi government, which releases funds to them under the Basic Tax Assignment (BTA) for paying salaries, has not made the payments of the second quarter since it slashed BTA due to a 57% decline in revenues on account of COVID-19.Where does the solution lie?In Delhi, the Centre has in the past only funded municipal bodies under specific heads such as health and education. But this money has always been routed through the Delhi government. Till 2019, the funds were paid in accordance with the recommendations of the 3rd Delhi Finance Commission (DFC). However, the corporations have been seeking their release on the basis of the recommendations of the 4th DFC. However, the Delhi government insists there are financial implications and this is only possible if Delhi’s share in central pool of taxes is raised.Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta recently said the allocation of funds to the corporations should be reviewed and revised every five years in view of the rise in inflation and increase in material rate, both of which impact the cost of providing municipal services. Also, he argued for the corporations to innovatively think about new sources of revenue and taxes on services so that their dependence on Central funding is reduced.
