Indian Express 28.04.2010
Govt sends ambiguous note on Panchkula MC dissolution
CHHAVI BHATIA Tags : corporation Posted: Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010 at 0226 hrs
Panchkula: While it has been a month since the township was turned into a municipal corporation, the municipal council is yet to receive a formal notification about the dissolution of the council. Even as councillors cease to have any powers, the city is both council and corporation on the paper.
As per Rule 12 of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973, pertaining to the term of the municipal council, every municipality unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in force, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting. The Act also has the provision for the house where it says that the municipality shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before its dissolution. The Act also clearly states that all municipalities existing immediately before the commencement of the Constitution’s 74th Amendment Act, 1992, shall continue till the expiration of the duration unless sooner dissolved by a resolution passed to that effect by the State Legislature.
However, the notification sent by the state government does not talk about dissolving the council according to the rules even as the administration maintains that the same has been done. The notification March 17 sent to the administration by Haryana Urban Local Bodies has simply declared the township a Municipal Corporation without a word on the status of the council. The order (a copy of which is with the Newsline) states, “In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, the Governor of Haryana declares the Municipal Council of Panchkula and municipal committees of Kalka and Pinjore and adjoining rural areas as shown in the drawing and specified in the schedule as Municipal Corporation, Panchkula.”
Former councillors are also peeved over the fact that the state government has “bent the rules” and not declared the council as dissolved as stated in the rules. BB Singhal, former councillor, “The government has violated the rule pertaining to the dissolution of the house. The notification too is ambiguous about the status of the Municipal Council. We have also raised this point in our petition filed in the high court regarding the decision.”
Meanwhile, the administration maintained that the orders received are “sufficient” enough to declare the council null and void. Talking to Newsline, Ashima Garg, commissioner, Municipal Corporation, said, “It is a decision taken by the state government making the township into a corporation. This automatically makes the council stand dissolved.”
