New Delhi, May 20 (IANS): The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday appointed IAS officer Ashwini Kumar as the Special Officer and Commissioner of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

According to its order, Ashwini Kumar will work as Special Officer with effect from May 22, till further orders, to supervise the working of the MCD.

"In pursuance of Section 514A of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, as amended by the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, the Central Government hereby appoints Ashwani Kumar, IAS (AGMUT:1992) as the Special Officer w.e.f. 22.05.2022 and till further orders to exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi," the MHA order said.

It also appointed Gyanesh Bharti, an IAS officer of 1998 batch of AGMUT cadre.

The Ministry, on May 18, issued a gazette notification unifying the three civic bodies of Delhi, and the reunification will come into effect from May 22 as the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022 comes into force.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, which each comprise 104 municipal wards, and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation that contains 64 wards will be treated as one civic body, as was earlier, the notification said.

The three municipal corporations that were trifurcated in 2012 by then Congress government in Delhi.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, the Central government was appoint a Special Officer to run the new unified civic body until the elections to the civic body and first meeting of the corporation is held.