Gurgaon: MCG has convened only three House meetings in the past year, raising serious questions about compliance with statutory provisions governing municipal functioning.Under Section 52 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, and Section 25 of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973, municipal houses are required to hold at least one meeting every month to transact official business. Despite this clear mandate, MCG held only three meetings since the current House was elected on March 12, 2025.Of these three meetings, one was a special session held in April last year to approve the budget for the current financial year, further highlighting the lack of regular deliberations on civic matters. Other municipal corporations across Haryana face a similar situation.Haryana govt has warned that any deviation from the prescribed provisions would be treated as “gross negligence and dereliction of duty,” inviting strict administrative action against the concerned authorities.“As per the said provisions, ordinarily at least one meeting in every month is to be held by the concerned municipalities for the transaction of its business. In addition to the aforesaid meetings, at least one meeting in every six months of a duration of not less than three days is also required to be held by each municipality,” the department of urban local bodies said in a letter issued to civic bodies across the state.The order also instructed corporation secretaries, and executive officers or secretaries, to prepare and circulate the list of business to be transacted in meetings under the direction of the mayor or president, in accordance with Haryana Municipal Corporation Business Bye-Laws, 2009, and Haryana Municipal Business Bye-Laws, 1981.Councillors repeating their term this time said that meetings used to happen regularly in the past.“Meetings should be held regularly since we have to raise the issues of our wards. In the last term of the House, meetings were held frequently, at least once every month-and-a-half. We seek action-taken reports, status of development works, and give feedback on our wards’ work, besides raising critical issues. So, when the meetings are delayed, it creates hurdles in the development and maintenance works of each ward,” said Kuldeep Yadav, councillor of Ward 11.Residents said the agency’s lackadaisical approach undermines the purpose of municipal elections.“The first House meeting after the special budget session in April last year was held only in August, followed by another in November. During this intervening period, the city witnessed severe waterlogging, but since no meeting of the House was convened at the time, the issue could not be discussed when it was needed most. Subsequently, pollution levels began to rise in December, yet again no meeting was held to deliberate on the matter,” said Lalit Suraj Bhola, a resident of sector 9A.
