The State Government deciding to amend the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act to increase the financial limits of ward committees, standing committees, Commissioner and Mayor has invited positive reactions from officials and former bureaucrats.
A senior officer in the office of the Commissioner for Municipal Administration, Chennai, said that the Government’s decision to revise upwards the administrative sanction limit was to expedite execution of various development works.
Coming after 10 years, the revision exercise had factored in the increase in price of goods and inflation and the proposed sanction limits would reflect that.
At present, the ward committees have powers to sanction works up to Rs. 5 lakh, the Commissioner between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh, Mayor between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 20 lakh, all standing committees except the finance and taxation committee between Rs. 20 lakh and Rs. 30 lakh, the finance and taxation committee between Rs. 30 lakh and Rs. 50 lakh and the Corporation Council between Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 1 crore.
Thereafter, the officials would have to approach the Commissioner for Municipal Administration, who had powers to sanction projects up to Rs. 5 crore.
With the proposed move, the sanction limit would increase for the corporation but the quantum of increase would be known later, the officer said and added that the move was nothing but financial decentralisation aimed at helping local bodies take quicker decision.
Coimbatore Mayor P. Rajkumar said that the government’s move was a welcome step as it would help decide a lot more projects at local level and quickly at that. Officers no longer need to carry files every now and then to Chennai for approval.
B. Balachandran, a former Regional Director for Municipal Administration, said that the move would save time in granting approval for projects for all local bodies because officers from all of them go to Chennai for approval. With the revised limits, there would be fewer local bodies for approval in Chennai.
He also said that the government should put in place a mechanism where it revised the administrative sanction powers every five years or so.
Sources in the know of civic administration said that while it was welcome that the government had increased the financial limit, it had not been much of a problem as officials continued to circumvent the limit by splitting estimates for a work.
For a work with higher value that needed officials to go to Chennai for approval, the officials, to save time, split the work into two and prepared two separate estimates in such a way that it fell within their financial powers or that of the council.
Even after the proposed move, such splitting of estimates would continue, they added.
