Chandigarh, Dec. 10 -- The central government on Tuesday clarified in the Lok Sabha that it was not examining any proposal to increase the tenure of the Chandigarh mayor from the existing one year to five years. The clarification came in response to a question raised by member of Parliament Manish Tewari. Notably, this does not amount to the Centre rejecting any plan to extend the term. On December 5, Tewari had introduced a Private Member's Bill seeking a five-year tenure for the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor - a proposal that will follow its own legislative course when taken up by the House. Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, in a written reply, said no proposal was currently under consideration to amend the mayor's term, introduce direct elections for the post or revise the distribution of functions between the Chandigarh administration and the municipal corporation. The reply indicates that the Union government is not actively working on any such changes at present. Tewari had asked whether the Centre was considering a governance model similar to Haryana, where mayors were directly elected by all eligible voters for five years. He also sought clarification on whether the Union government planned to reallocate functional responsibilities between the MC and the UT administration, given the corporation's long-standing financial constraints. Rai further pointed out that the 30% revenue-sharing framework recommended by the Finance Commission for states and panchayati raj Institutions did not apply to Chandigarh. "Since Chandigarh is a Union territory, these recommendations are not applicable. The budgetary requirements of the municipal corporation are met through grants-in-aid from the Union Budget," he stated. Reacting to the reply, Tewari expressed sharp disappointment. "I find it a tad perplexing, if not confusing. On the one hand, officials of the Chandigarh administration are in Delhi to discuss pending issues, including increasing the mayor's term to five years, on the other hand, the ministry of home affairs says there is no such proposal," he said. But he clarified that the Centre's response had no bearing on the Private Member's Bill he introduced on December 5. "This is to contextualise that the government's response today will have no impact on the Bill I moved on Friday. The Bill stands," he said. Tewari maintained that his Bill sought to align Chandigarh's mayoral system with practices followed in major Indian municipal corporations and international urban local bodies. While introducing it, he had argued that Chandigarh was a modern, fast-growing urban centre where key projects - particularly in infrastructure, waste management, choe rejuvenation, mobility, housing reforms and environmental restoration - required multi-year leadership continuity. "A one-year mayoral term is far too short for a city of Chandigarh's scale. Annual leadership change disrupts execution and accountability," he said, adding that a five-year term will provide the stability needed to implement long-term development strategies....