BJP upset as AAP asks Centre to first abide by finance panel report

The opposition BJP in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday slammed the AAP government’s decision to implement the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission only after the Centre abides by it.

During a discussion on the implementation of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission’s report, the AAP government put a rider that the central government should implement the suggestions of the committee first.

The Fourth Delhi Finance Commission proposes a steep hike in the civic agencies’ share in government's taxes, from 5.5 per cent to over 12.5 per cent.

Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said that it is “treacherous and against the Constitution provisions”. “The condition imposed by the Delhi government is totally unjust.

“If the government will accept the recommendations of the commission it will provide much needed relief to the civic agencies, but tabling the report was an eyewash. The government is back-stabbing the people of Delhi by playing a blame game with the Centre,” Gupta added.

“I had to seek court’s intervention to get the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission tabled in the House. When the government felt cornered, it tabled the report. But it has no intentions of implementing it.”

The city government is in violation of the constitutional provisions under Section 243-1 and Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, which states that “there is no provision which binds the city government to impose precondition of the acceptance of the recommendations by the central government first”.

“Had the AAP government wanted to implement the recommendations, it would have not imposed any condition. The city government wants to financially starve the municipal corporations so that they are not able to perform their obligatory functions,” said the leader of opposition.

The Fourth Delhi Finance Commission was constituted in 2009. It was scheduled to give its report in 2010, but it submitted its report in 2013. Its recommendations were to be implemented from 2010 to 2015. The commission’s report was delayed at least by three years.

The municipal corporations say that the Third Delhi Finance Commission had proposed 5.5 per cent ‘global share’ – cut in city government’s taxes – for civic agencies. But the corporations are getting only 4 per cent share and 1.5 per cent has been reserved for Municipal Reform Funds.