Delhi govt sets up panel to audit civic bodies' accounts

The Delhi government today appointed a fact-finding committee to audit the accounts of all the three municipal corporations and directed it to submit its report within a week.
The move comes as all the mayors of NDMC, EDMC and SDMC have been demanding release of funds due to them from the government.
Senior IAS officer A Anbarasu, Secretary Revenue-cum- Divisional Commissioner, will head the committee while Additonal Secretary (Urban), Sandeep Kumar Mishra will be its memeber, said an order by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
In his order, Sisodia said the Divional Commissioner can co-opt any or all district magistrates, additonal magistrates and sub-district magistrates to do the audit.

He said that during the last one year, people of Delhi have undergone several day-to-day difficulties due to various agitations, strikes, demand notices by the staff of civic bodies inlcuding doctors, nurses, teachers, sanitation workers regarding non-payment of salaries and arrears.
Sisodia further said that under the provision of section

42 of Delhi Muncipal Corporation (DMC) Act, the muncipal corporations are under obligation to perform certain functions which have not been done so by the corporations as reported by citizens time and again.
Mayors of the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations in Delhi met President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday and sought his intervention for release of funds and implementation of the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission by the AAP government.

To take stock of the grant under Plan and Non-Plan heads to be released by the government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently held a meeting with all the three mayors and told them that the AAP dispensation has released almost all its dues under both heads.
In the meeting, government had clarified that 100 per cent of funds have been released to both NDMC and EDMC while 80 per cent of funds has been released to SDMC and the remaining amount will be given to it by January 18.
Mayors of all three civic bodies and councillors of the BJP had on January 11 taken out a march from Rajghat to Delhi Secretariat demanding the release of funds to the civic bodies and implement recommendations of Delhi Finance Commission.

Councillors from opposition Congress had also joined their ruling counterparts in SDMC House in slamming the Kejriwal government for "not releasing funds" to the three municipal corporations.