Act I, Scene 1: Students preparing for one of the most prestigious exams in India die of electrocution or drowning. Water floods into dungeons that function as libraries and have no escape outlet. Pumps to drain out water barely function, fire services seem helpless. Residents run around bewildered.
Scene 2: Students begin to protest; local politicians sit and plan their blame game. Each party must blame the other. It does not matter which party is in power today. Each of them has been in power over the years. It’s forgotten that a city of 40 lakh people, 50 years ago, has grown to around 3 crores people now. The objective is to embarrass the other party and take political advantage of the crises. After all, the local state assembly elections are just a year away. They must be won at any cost. Therefore, let’s plan protests, decide all. The ruling party will protest against the Lieutenant Governor (LG) who is a symbol of the Union government. The main opposition will protest against the apathy of the elected government. Its laziness, apathy, lack of control over officers must be exposed. As discussions end, the politicians retire to the comforts of their air-conditioned homes for a tough next day.
Scene 3: Senior civil servants go into a huddle. They need to prepare for harsh questioning by the LG, the press and politicians baying for their blood. Replies are quickly prepared, after all these officers are well trained to prepare replies to even the toughest of questions for Parliament and Assemblies. The standard reply to most parliament or assembly questions, “question does not arise”, will not work here. There is a need to show desilting work has been done diligently. Some sewers may have escaped attention and these are the ones that caused the back flow that impacted the whole of Delhi. To supplement replies, it is decided to suspend a few technical/supervisory staff. This will demonstrate the will to act. How does it matter, says one, that these chaps will be reinstated after a few months. It’s the perception that we mean business that matters.
Scene 4: A minister (Delhi does not know which minister is in charge of this situation) announces a committee to investigate the whole affair. It’s a different matter that just a few days back ministers were circulating videos of senior officers not amenable to their “humble request” to accompany them for inspecting some areas with complaints of water logging. But it’s the announcement that matters after all.
In another part of the stage the LG sets up another committee. It’s the officers themselves who will make the Terms of Reference (TOR). To them it is clear – the TOR shall be so framed that senior officers are protected. Let the blame go at the level of executive engineers or equivalent administrative staff. Suspend a few. Some heads must roll. Perceptions matter.
Scene 5: Delhi police cannot be left behind. But there is no crime, theft or murder. However, they must demonstrate action, say senior officers. They swing into action and arrest a driver who drove through the flooded street and claim his drive pushed the waters that broke the gates of the coaching centre that got flooded. The suggestion receives due applause from senior officers as the matter is taken to court. The judge takes a serious view and denies bail to the hassled driver. Neither the driver, his wife, nor his lawyer know the nature of this most unique crime of driving through a flooded street. No one thought that the whole of Delhi, including its VIP areas, were in a similar state and therefore all cars must stop moving till the waters recede.
Scene 6: The elected chief minister sits despondent in jail. His lawyers have struggled to get him bail. The investigating authorities, convinced of his involvement in corruption, fight tooth and nail to prevent bail. He is sick. His party men claim his condition is deteriorating. The jail doctors deny this. The chief minister insists on staying in his chair despite knowing that functionality from within jail is not possible. It’s now a battle of wits and stamina between him, the investigating agencies and the judges. All three sit in different parts of the stage and discuss this situation.
The curtains fall in a scene of laughter – all dramatis personae are happy! Enquiries have been ordered, politicians have demonstrated, police have pleased one and all by firing water cannons on protestors of all parties. After all, there is an abundance of water in Delhi. There is laughter and bonhomie.
The End
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Here lies the crux of the problem. In the capital of India are a multiplicity of authorities – the LG’s office, the chief minister and his cabinet, and the three distinct municipal corporations. Article 239 of the Constitution deals with the Union territories. It makes clear that the administration of every Union territory shall be administered by the President acting through an administrator appointed by him. In Delhi, the responsibility for public order, police and land rests with the LG. All other subjects are with the elected government, except the management of civil services. The Supreme Court has referred the latter issue to a larger bench.
The arrangements worked reasonably well until chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, fresh from his “andolan”, challenged these established conventions. This piece is not on the disputes between his government and other agencies. The question is, how to address the maladministration and confusion that exists in administering Delhi.
The most salient issue is the question of rampant corruption in the municipal corporations. Firstly, they should never have been divided into three. Barring the South Municipal Corporation, neither of the other two – North and East – are financially viable. In the latter two, staff are irregularly paid. Centred around disgust at not being paid regularly, there is gross maladministration and massive corruption. No work is done without monies being passed to dealing staff. In view of this, it’s hardly surprising that sewers are not cleaned, storm drains cannot be reached, because there are encroachments on them, and staff are paid off for every illegal act that takes place.
The unregulated coaching industry is only a symbol of all that is around. Buildings collapse at regular intervals, electric wires are hanging dangerously in most parts of old Delhi, encroachments in lanes make even walking impossible and young and old are often run over by two-wheelers.
Delhi had its first LG in 1966. At the time, the population of Delhi was under 30 lakhs – one tenth of the population today. Since the 1970s, there has been debate whether Delhi should remain a Union territory or if it should be given the status of a full state. In 1989, the Balakrishnan Committee submitted its report that Delhi should continue as a Union territory but be provided by a Legislative Assembly with appropriate powers to deal with matters of concern to the common man. In 1990, the population of Delhi was under 1 crore. The administrative arrangements worked, with minor hiccups, till the Kejriwal phenomenon challenged the system and demanded greater powers for the elected government. Kejriwal left no stone unturned to prove that the existing system was not working and demanded change.
Thus, the question today is whether, given its complex administrative structure, rapidly growing population, and the expectations of its residents, it is not time to reassess the existing systems and Constitutional provisions. It is not my case to say that the system demands a change but one can certainly say that the system needs a relook.
New Delhi, as the capital, cannot be left to flounder under questions raised on the effectiveness of the existing systems. It is perhaps time for the Union government to once again set up a committee of seasoned experts and examine the matter holistically to suggest remedial measures.
Najeeb Jung is a former civil servant and LG of Delhi.
