Chandigarh, June 22 -- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday defended the state cabinet's decision to delegate the powers of chairman of all local urban development bodies to the chief secretary, calling it a bold reform aligned with similar administrative set-ups in several other states.

Several senior AAP leaders, including state president Aman Arora, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema and education minister Harjot Singh Bains, stated that cabinet approved a uniform framework across eight authorities such as GMADA, GLADA, Amritsar Development Authority, and Bathinda Development Authority, with deputy commissioners and municipal commissioners as members to decentralise governance and speed up decision-making.

The move to vest the chair...