Even as the death toll in the east Delhi building collapse mounted, the Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was heard expressing her helplessness in bringing the guilty to book. 

“Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) gives no-objection certificate to a building for occupation. All these issues will have to be looked into during the inquiry,” she told reporters.

What she meant here was if the building was illegal, it’s the MCD that is responsible and not her government.

While her statement may seem to be the classic case of buck passing, she may indeed be as helpless as she sounded, for the MCD, the agency that gives clearances to building plans and is the watchdog of the building bylaws of the 85% of the city, does not come under her purview. 

And that is the tragedy of the capital city, governed as it is by plethora of authorities. 

This is not the first time the three times elected chief minister has wrung her hand in helplessness. 

In Januray 2007, a RTI application had revealed that 65 buildings including several multi-storey structures in the Shahdara Zone of the MCD were found to have been constructed illegally during the past few months and continued to exist unchecked.

Shocked at such damning revelation one of the information commissioners of central information commission Shailesh Gandhi wrote to the Delhi chief minister, informing her of the matter and highlighting the “clear collusive corruption and an organised challenge to the laws of the State with regard to illegal constructions”

“In spite of these illegal buildings being identified, it is apparent that the MCD staff is unwilling to take any action. Illegal activity on such a large organised scale has the impact of making a mockery of the rule of law and must be considered as a major threat to the State,” Gandhi wrote.

In a reply to his letter, Dikshit expressed her inability to take action as it was a local body with elected members and reports to the union home ministry.

To the chief minister’s credit though, she has been persistent in her demand to make MCD accountable to Delhi government, making several presentations to the home ministry. But to no avail.

In September last year, the home ministry did give an in-principle approval to the Dikshit’s proposal, but it is yet to be implemented.  

Till that happens, the chief minister will continue to wash her hands of tragedies of such magnitude and the venal officials of the MCD will have a free run, giving sanctions to the illegal structures risking the lives of many more.