MCD forms 25 internal committees amid AAP protests over reduction in SC panel size

AAP councillors protested the reduction in the number of members of the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Implementation of Scheduled Castes Candidates Quota committee, from 35 to 21.

“In the last session, the BJP amended the SC committee’s composition, reducing its strength from 35 to 21 members. This amendment was made only to this one committee, which is entirely unacceptable,” Leader of Opposition, AAP councillor Ankush Narang, alleged.

“The BJP did this because they currently have only nine councillors from the Scheduled Caste. If the committee had retained its 35-member strength, the BJP would have had 16 members, and AAP, 13. But since the BJP did not have the numbers, they slashed the size of the committee,” he added. The other members of the committees would be non-councillors, elected as experts on the subject.

The MCD proposals are placed before committees, which act as advisors and forward their decisions to the Standing Committee and the House. According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, “Each committee constituted under this section shall elect one of its members who is a councillor as the chairman and another member as the vice-chairman.”

AAP has alleged that this is why the BJP wants to reduce the number of members.

However, Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh denied the allegations, saying that the proposal regarding the ad-hoc committee was tabled in the previous House session, where the Opposition could have put forth its concerns. “AAP has consistently tried to obstruct the functioning of the House,” he added.

Meanwhile, the last date for nominations for the chairperson and vice-chairperson posts of the committees is July 31. Elections will be held on August 6 and 7.