Mehra’s second term gets over in April but she wants her successors to deal with a “disciplined” opposition.

“The opposition leaders just walk into the well of the House when they do not want the meetings to proceed. They do not want a healthy debate to take place,” Mayor Mehra says, justifying the move to appoint strongmen to deal strongly with unruly councillors.

While MCD members using unparliamentary language in the House is nothing new, there have been a few bizarre acts of late, many in the municipality say. Leader of Opposition J K Sharma has been reported walking into the House with his own microphone. His contention: the Mayor does not let him speak in the House, and that she gets the microphone switched off every time it’s his turn to speak. Bahujan Samaj Party councillors had in fact got a calf into the House a few months ago — they contended the MCD cattle van had picked up the cow from an illegal dairy. Their demand: the Mayor should immediately pass an order to release the cow.

“It gets really difficult at times to control the members,” Mehra says. “The councilors often fail to respect the dignity of the House.”

Mehra now wants the marshals to be in place before she bids the MCD House adieu. “I don’t want that the situation to be the same year after year — I want to have the bouncers in place before I leave this Chair,” she says.

But Leader of Opposition in the MCD House J K Sharma, blacklisted by Mehra in almost all meetings, says the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act does not have provision of appointing marshals. “We are a democracy and everyone has the right to speak,” Sharma says. “So the Mayor will have to listen even if someone is loud.”