Pension, power, five-year term: Mayors draw up a wish list for themselves in Chandigarh meet

CHANDIGARH. Mayors from 15 states met in Chandigarh on Monday to talk about running better cities. They spent much of the day making a case for themselves.

At the 118th meeting of the All-India Mayors Council (AIMC), the demands were plain. Mayors want a fixed five-year term across India, more powers, a single national system for choosing them, and pension like MPs and MLAs get. Each demand was framed as a way to strengthen urban governance. Each would also give the mayor’s chair more security, more authority and lifelong benefits.

The ask: a protected post

AIMC general secretary Ashutosh Varshney, a former mayor of Aligarh, made the most direct pitch. He sought pensionary benefits for mayors on the lines of MPs and MLAs, citing their contribution to running cities.

Rajya Sabha MP and AIMC regional head Naveen Jain, a former mayor of Agra, pushed for a uniform five-year term and clearly fixed powers for all mayors. He wanted the 74th Constitutional Amendment enforced in letter and spirit to make the mayor “an important pillar” of urban governance.

AIMC chairperson and Karnal Mayor Renu Bala Gupta said the meet’s purpose was to widen mayors’ powers and secure a uniform tenure. She sought the same rules on tenure, role, powers and selection everywhere.

What the Constitution says now

The 74th Amendment, passed in 1992, fixed a five-year term for municipal bodies. It left the mayor’s term, powers and method of election to state governments. Urban local government is a state subject.

A single national rule for mayors would mean taking that decision away from the states. That would need a central law or another constitutional change. It would place the mayor’s post beyond the reach of the state governments that now shape it.

Chandigarh Mayor Saurabh Joshi made the case for change. He said a mayor’s term ranges from one year to two, two-and-a-half or five years depending on the state. In some states, voters elect the mayor directly. In others, councillors pick the mayor. He called for one transparent system so mayors can meet the growing needs of cities.

There is a fair argument here. Chandigarh’s own mayor gets just one year, which is barely enough to see a project through. But none of the speakers spoke about tying longer terms or a pension to how a mayor performs.