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Chandigarh administration mulls extending Mayor’s term to 5 years

In Chandigarh, all executive powers rest with the Commissioner of the civic body, while the Mayor has none.

A Mayor in Chandigarh is elected from amongst the elected councillors for a one-year term. (File)

The Chandigarh Administration is preparing to give a go ahead to enhance the Mayor’s term to five years. According to sources, Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has asked the UT officers to prepare a report on the matter in a meeting with the Chief Secretary and other officers that took place at Raj Bhawan.

Already, the Administrator has changed the way of voting in Mayoral elections by way of show of hands, which will be implemented in the next election in a bid to prevent cross voting.

“The Administrator has asked to prepare a report so that it can be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which will further decide on the issue. Already Panchkula and Mohali have the Mayor’s term for five years and a similar provision is being pushed for Chandigarh as well,” a senior official of the Chandigarh administration said.

A Mayor in Chandigarh is elected from amongst the elected councillors for a one-year term. Every year in January, the Mayor elections take place in the ‘City Beautiful’.

In Chandigarh, all executive powers rest with the Commissioner of the civic body, while the Mayor has none. The Mayor has just one power, which is to convene a House meeting or any meeting or just decide on which all agendas to bring in the General House meeting. All the previous Mayors have been complaining that despite them and the councillors being the only elected representative in the Union Territory (UT), they have no powers to get residents’ works done. A councillor or a Mayor has to request the administration officials and ensure a good bond to see that work is done.

In case if there is a Mayor in council as resolved by the General House as well, the Mayor and committee chairpersons will have powers at par with that of the Minister of State. The Mayor and chairpersons will have a say in every policy matter — a decision which at present is with the bureaucrats.

Currently, bureaucrats posted in Chandigarh have all the powers, be it overseeing the tender allotment or writing ACRs of employees. Even transfers and postings of the employees are decided by the bureaucrats. This will make the employees accountable to the Mayor else they don’t pay heed and listen only to the officers who come just for three years while a public representative is duly elected by the public.

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All these years it is the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976 that is extended to Chandigarh and governs all the civic body in Chandigarh. However certain laws of the Punjab MC act have also been diluted that are extended in Chandigarh.

Hina Rohtaki

Hina Rohtaki is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, Chandigarh. She covers Chandigarh administration and other cross beats. In this field for over a decade now, she has also received the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award by the President of India in January 2020. She tweets @HinaRohtaki ... Read More

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