Shimla ex-Dy Mayor in central govt panel

The Ministry of Housing Affairs, Government of India, has picked Tikender Panwar, a former Deputy Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation, as an expert member in the working group that will form a ‘Model Municipal Act’ for the entire nation. The other members of the group include principal secretary, urban development, Maharashtra, and other experts from the IIHS, Bangalore, and some retired bureaucrats who have worked in the urban development department.

Model Municipal Act

• The group will form a Model Municipal Act for the entire nation
• The Model Municipal Act will look into the possibilities of strengthening democratic governance in the cities

The Model Municipal Act will look into the possibilities of strengthening the democratic governance in the cities. The working group will look into various aspects such as redefining the role and responsibilities of the mayors - empowerment of mayor as elected representative with executive powers, including having a mayoral council for of government with clear reporting structures.

The group will look into having regular and timely elections to the councils and formation of councils immediately after elections, role of mayors in administration of municipal corporations, role of councillors as elected representatives in the decision-making process of the municipal corporation, role of councillors in decision-making process by being part of at least one key deliberative committee, etc.