Chandigarh sends proposal to Centre to extend Mayors tenure, bats for 2.5 year term

The tenure of the Chandigarh Mayor may be extended from one year to two-and-a-half-year as the administration has sent a proposal to the central government. The proposal, which also includes extending the tenure of the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

According to the administration, one year term is too short to fully analyse and implement the policies and projects.

The administration has suggested an amendment to Section 38 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, which is applicable to Chandigarh through the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994. If approved, it would bring a major change in the functioning of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

Former MP and Union Railway Minister Pawan Bansal said the Mayor should ideally have a five-year term and be directly elected by the public. He also suggested that the post should be strengthened, the corporation should receive full funding, and the Mayor should have the authority to write the ACRs (Annual Confidential Reports) of officers.

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MCC) was formed on May 24, 1994, through an ordinance, which was later implemented as the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994. Until the first elections were held, A.P. Tyagi was appointed as Chandigarh’s first Commissioner on June 19, 1995, and he also exercised the powers of the Mayor during that period.

The first meeting of councillors and the mayoral election took place in December 1996. Since then, the Mayor’s term has been one year. From December 1996 till now, a total of 30 mayors have been elected. The first Mayor was Kamla Sharma (December 1996).

Other notable mayors include former Haryana Assembly Speaker Gyan Chand Gupta, Harjinder Kaur (twice), Kamlesh (twice), and Anu Chatrath (twice). Currently, BJP’s Saurabh Joshi is the Mayor.