NEW DELHI: Even as the Centre moots directly elected mayors with a fixed five-year tenure and a mayor-in-council system, municipal heads from different cities at National Urban Conclave flagged that the move would serve little purpose without giving mayors adequate powers. Rajkot mayor Nehal Shukla also called for time-bound financial audits of civic bodies, saying that “no municipal body can function without financial irregularities”.Participating in a discussion on proposed changes to the Model Municipal Law, Shukla said mayors in municipal governance were like governors, while standing committees wielded financial powers and executive officials remained under the control of state govts.“Wherever we have directly elected mayors, we must have a mayor-in-council. If you don’t give power to the mayor, direct election hardly serves any objective,” he said.Under the mayor-in-Council system, executive powers to run a city on a day-to-day basis are shared between the mayor and a small, cabinet-like group of elected councillors, who are individually accountable for their respective portfolios.Shukla also suggested that municipal elections be conducted by the Election Commission, citing its track record of holding timely general and assembly elections. He said state govts invariably found one reason or another to delay municipal polls.“The biggest missing thing that needs to be fixed is timely audits to bring financial discipline. Audit reports are delayed by six to eight years, and that’s why irregularities do not come to light. We all know that no municipal body can function without financial irregularities,” he said.Shukla pointed out that rules require tenders to be floated for works or services costing more than Rs 5 lakh, but alleged that this was often not followed. Municipal commissioners, he said, were aware of such violations but approved the transactions because otherwise civic bodies could not function.He suggested that audits be conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). If state auditors continued to conduct them, he said, the law should ensure that the audit backlog did not exceed two years.
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Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das, who also participated in the discussion, said municipal laws were robust on paper, but the ground reality was different.“People have more expectations from directly elected mayors. But we have no power. Executive officers such as municipal commissioners are beyond the control of mayors, as we cannot write their annual performance reports or have any say in their appointments. Commissioners change frequently,” she said.
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