The Hindu      30.10.2014 

Corporation council declines to form ward committees

Defying a recent directive of the Urban Development
Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, the Mangalore City Corporation council, in
its monthly meeting on Wednesday, declined to constitute ward committees
in the city. Instead it resolved to constitute a three-member House
committee to study the pros and cons of constituting them.

The
city corporation will have to constitute ward committees under the
Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act, 2011. The Lok Adalat,
on January 4, 2014, had also directed the corporation to take steps to
constitute the committees.

Mr. Sorake, in a meeting
on October 7, had directed the corporation to form ward committees
within a month and alsoto form citizens’ forums, deliberation committees
and ward sabhas.

He added that the State government
had sent a circular to city corporations to form ward committees and
some of them had already taken steps to this effect.

At
the council’s meeting on Wednesday, the Mayor Mahabala Marla said that
the three-member committee, headed by senior councillor Lancelot Pinto,
will study the proposal and then the council will decide.

According to the Act, the councillor of each ward will head the 11-member ward committee and it should meet every month.

The
council approved a proposal to give the corporation some “police
powers” on the lines of the powers enjoyed by urban local bodies in
Europe. The Mayor said the government would have to amend the Act for
this to become a reality.

The council took the
decision as the Directorate of Municipal Administration had sought the
consent of all city corporation councils to a proposal to amend the Act.