NEW DELHI: Sharad Chandra Behar , roped in by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to help with the drafting of the much-touted mohalla sabha legislation, says no deadline can be set for submission of the bill because this can entail a far more rigorous exercise than expected, especially because of the presence of multiple authorities that run Delhi."I do not believe in deadlines in such matters," Behar said, emphasising that the "complex nature" of the Delhi government posed a major challenge to this flagship project by the AAP to ensure direct democracy at mohalla (block) levels. The AAP government envisages creating close to 2,700 mohalla committees (community or block panels) to manage certain area-specific development plans in Delhi.Behar, a key architect of the concept of "gram swaraj" in Madhya Pradesh which offered unprecedented powers to village governments in 2001, says that it helps when most powers are vested with the state government . However, in Delhi, he says, only 30% of the powers to run the national capital territory fall under the state government."This being neither a full state nor a full Union Territory, there are multiple agencies that have powers, duties and responsibilities. Then, many issues have to be handled through the Lt Governor. The ministry of home affairs is also involved. Municipal corporations here have a lot of autonomy," he said, contrasting the situation with that in the state governments where such local empowerment schemes have been a success.The former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary who now has an office at the Delhi state secretariat laughs as he adds, "Any idea that you (the state government) want to implement, you have to see how it impinges upon others." Behar, who took charge early this month, will take only Re 1 per month as token remuneration for his work.Behar had earlier said that one of the biggest challenges he anticipated in Delhi was to make decision-making powers accessible equally to the rich and poor who live in the same locality. "This is a problem with an urban setting with huge discrepancy in incomes," he had said.H owever, there are many advantages for the poor in cities like Delhi where their sustenance is not always directly dependent on the rich in their neighbourhood. "In rural areas, the poor are under the control of the rich; here, the poor are not definitely dependent on the rich of their locality. This helps them air their views independently (in a mohalla sabha meeting)," Behar said.He stresses on the importance of lengthy negotiations between various stakeholders - within a mohalla sabha and between such panels - to finally arrive at a decision fair to all interest groups. Behar said the process of drafting of the bill would include inviting suggestions from various interest groups - such as the poor, very poor, middle class, the affluent, etc.It will be tough to implement the mohalla sabha programme in areas with a "mixed population" of these interest groups, he said. In such cases, the government will use multiple criteria to ensure the smooth functioning of mohalla sabhas, he said, adding, "We are still struggling (on developing parameters for a mohalla)....You know, thinking through, enacting and implementing the mohalla sabha act is a long-haul game. After all, social churning is what we wish to do."Behar dismissed the talk that the Mohalla Sabha Law - which the AAP expects to be a marquee legislation - will lead to law and order problems. "I don't think so. There will be a lot of problems, but not law and order problems," he said. There could be problems over, for instance, learning how to negotiate or how to understand the interest of certain categories without compromising on optimum protection of each person, he said.