In all probability, the Coimbatore Corporation budget for 2017-18 may
not be an exercise with public participation and budget presentation,
too, may be a very low-key affair.

Sources in the civic body said
that the Corporation was preparing the budget as per instructions from
the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA), which has
prescribed a standard format for municipal corporations across the
State.

The budget would be under five heads – accounts, revenue,
engineering, town planning and health – and not in the format the
corporation had been preparing by having separate account heads for
property tax, water charges, monthly rentals, etc.

After the CMA sent the instructions around the last week of January 2017, the corporation had been preparing the same.

There
was no deadline as of now. Once it finished the budget preparation, the
corporation would send the draft to the CMA for approval and thereafter
release the approved budget.

There would be no budget
presentation, either, as there was no council. The Special Officer –
Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan – would release the budget in his
chamber and a press release could follow.

But
there was nothing in the rule that prevented the Corporation from
seeking suggestions from the public, non-governmental organisations or
other bodies, especially when there was no council, said B.
Balachandran, a former Regional Director of Municipal Administration.

The
Special Officer preparing the budget should take inputs from his
subordinate officers – city engineer, city health officer, town planning
officer and others – and also from members of the society and various
organisations.

In fact, the corporation could issue a press
release inviting suggestions. And after the government approved the
budget, the corporation should make it public.

Former
councillor K. Purushothaman said that the corporation was obligated to
consult the public in preparing the budget because it was doing so with
public money. It should consult leaders of recognised political parties,
consumer bodies and other civil society organisations.

And, what
applied to the Union and State budgets would also apply to the civic
body budget, he said and added that it should remain a only-bureaucracy
exercise.