MLAs’ fund hike plan gets stuck in bureaucratic hurdles

The AAP government’s initiative to empower the city legislators with more financial powers to carry out developmental works in their respective constituencies has met with failure as the finance department has refused to release additional funds on the ground that it should be cleared by President Pranab Mukherjee after getting requisite approval from the Union home ministry and lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung.

The city Cabinet had recently approved a proposal to allocate an additional amount of Rs 10 crore to each MLA for the current financial year for undertaking developmental projects in their respective constituencies. The government move, which was to cost Rs 700 crore to the state exchequer, had raised eye-brows with AAP’s political rivals claiming that it was being done in the wake of the municipal elections scheduled for early next year.

Political pundits said that the AAP government wanted to send a message to voters that its development agenda would be replicated in each of the 272 wards if it was voted to power in the three municipal corporations. At present, each MLA gets Rs 4 crore every year to carry out developmental works in their respective constituencies. Of the Rs 4 crore, each MLA is bound to pay Rs 1 crore to the Delhi Jal Board. On the other hand, each Member of Parliament gets Rs 5 crore every year to carry out works in their respective constituencies.

A highly placed source said that the government had already allocated Rs 280 crore to the city MLAs to carry out small works in their respective constituencies. But the government has reportedly not received completion certificates from the agencies involved in executing their projects in all the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi.

A senior officer said that the government had asked the finance department to release additional money towards the MLA fund so that they could quickly carry out developmental works in their areas. But the finance department refused to release the money on the ground that the same had not been approved by the L-G, who in turn has to get it cleared from the MHA before the President puts his stamp on the matter. “Once the President okays the proposal, a supplementary bill has to be tabled in the Delhi Assembly. Once the House clears it, then only additional money can be released in accordance with the provisions of the new finance bill.”

The Delhi government had framed a scheme namely the Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development Scheme in 1994 on the same analogy as was available in the Union government under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme. The basic purpose of introducing the scheme was to implement small development projects as per the need of local people. The amount was increased to Rs 1.40 crore in 1999-2000. It was further increased to Rs 1.90 crore in 2000-01 and to Rs 2 crore in 2004-05. The government finally doubled the fund to Rs 4 crore in 2011-12.