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Suresh Kumar: Tumkur CMC will be upgraded

Thursday, 03 December 2009 01:41 administrator
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The Hindu 03.12.2009

Suresh Kumar: Tumkur CMC will be upgraded

Special Correspondent

‘The city has met all the criteria to secure corporation tag’

 

Cabinet may take a decision on the issue today

There are eight city corporations in the State

Bangalore: The Tumkur City Municipal Council will be soon upgraded to a city corporation, Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs S. Suresh Kumar has said.

Addressing presspersons here, the Minister said Tumkur city had met all the criteria to get the corporation tag. The city’s population had crossed three lakh and the city municipal council earned an annual income of over Rs. 6 crore. Further, more than 50 per cent of the city’s activities were non-agricultural, he said.

The State Cabinet, which would meet on Thursday, might decide on the issue. Currently, there are eight city corporations: Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Belgaum, Bellary, Hubli-Dharwad, Davangere and Shimoga.

In view of elections to the Legislative Council from the local authorities constituencies, Mr. Suresh Kumar said that several legislators had sought postponement of the legislature session, scheduled to start on December 14. The Cabinet would decide on that, he added.

The Government had planned to introduce a Bill in the coming session of the legislature to check slaughter of cows and draught cattle. The Bill would be in consonance with Article 48 of the Constitution, which had a specific reference to slaughter of milch and draught animals, he said.

A workshop on draft urban policy would be organised in Mysore on Friday, and mayors, presidents and vice-presidents of CMCs and TMCs would be invited to provide suggestions. Based on it, a final draft of the policy would be released in mid-January, the Minister said.

Courts

On the setting up of civil courts at the hobli level for speedy settlement of cases, Mr. Suresh Kumar said the Government had not yet discussed the issue. The establishment of “gram nyayalayas” at the hobli level would be delayed. The Centre had suggested that States set up “gram nyayalayas”, he said.

A few months ago, Home Minister V.S. Acharya said that the courts would become functional by Rajyotsava. There are 745 hoblis in the State.

Last Updated on Thursday, 03 December 2009 01:43
 

Sena keeps crown as MNS, SP stay away

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 12:18 administrator
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Indian Express 02.12.2009

Sena keeps crown as MNS, SP stay away

CONSOLATION PRIZE : After twin setbacks, Sena’s Jadhav elected Mayor

ShivSena
Shraddha Jadhav in the hot seat at BMC headquarters on Tuesday.

After back-to back defeats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the Shiv Sena scored the best consolation win it could have hoped for, retaining the prize post of Mayor in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the country’s richest civic body.

Four-term Sena corporator Shraddha Jadhav, backed by the BJP, gained a clear majority to become the city’s 73rd mayor. The MNS and the Samjawadi Party were absent from the elections, denting the Congress-NCP’s hopes of a last minute miracle. In any case, the combined strength of the MNS and the Samajwadi Party, 13, would not have overcome Jadhav’s victory margin of 19 votes.

Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray went to the civic headquarters to wish Jadhav and toasted the victory as an important one. “Every win is important but we wanted this success for the people of Mumbai,” he said. “The celebrations outside the BMC are huge and even the Congress has not managed such a show of strength and revelry anywhere after winning the Assembly elections.”

Voting involved raising of hands and Jadhav won 114 votes against Congress rival candidate Priscila Kadam’s 95. The BJP’s Shailaja Girkar became Deputy Mayor with 112 votes against NCP candidate Vidya Chavan’s 94.

The election was not without problems for the Sena, which faced a last-minute rebellion with five corporators “going missing” and refusing to accept the party whip. Party leaders admitted they had been tense till the eve of voting. Versova corporator Chhaya Bhanji, who had apparently vanished for 48 hours and prompted her son to file a complaint with the police, eventually turned up and voted. She had gone for a wedding without informing her family, she said; there was no question of rebellion as she is a staunch Sena supporter.

Kandivli corporator Kshitija Pujari and Snehal Jadhav of Dadar, who had appeared to be untraceable the previous day, also surfaced and voted Sena. So did the Akhil Bharatiya Sena’s Geeta and Vandana Gawli, who had sparked rumours of possible cross-voting after tying up with the Congress’s “Rane group”.

Uddhav Thackeray said most of the Sena-BJP corporators remained loyal to the party.

The Samajwadi Party’s seven corporators objected to the elections and walked out during the poll process. The six MNS members did not turn out.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe rubbished the idea that the Congress ever had even the slightest chance of winning. “We were never apprehensive despite the Congress’s hopes of a possible miracle. They were depending on money and muscle power to woo independents, the SP and MNS corporators, and some of the Sena. The Shiv Sena remained intact due to Balasaheb (Thackeray) and emerged victorious.”

Congress leader Rajhans Singh said it was the Sena who had “bought” Samajwadi Party candidates and made them skip voting. “The Samajwadi Party usually stay away from fundamental parties but they supported the Sena in a way by not allying with us. The MNS, which is also an enemy of the Sena, helped them by remaining absent. This was indeed a miracle,” he said.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 December 2009 12:36
 

After ‘ghost workers’, MCD in fresh trouble over out-of-turn promotions

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 11:00 administrator
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Indian Express 02.12.2009

After ‘ghost workers’, MCD in fresh trouble over out-of-turn promotions

After the recent ‘ghost employees’ debacle, fresh trouble seems to be brewing for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, this time over the out-of-turn promotion of five of its officials to the post of deputy commissioner over a year ago.

Highly placed sources in the civic agency confirmed that five out of 17 serving deputy commissioners (DC) were promoted to their current post last year after merely three years of service, violating the recruitment rules set by the Union Public Service Commission. Two of these five officials are now in line for promotion to the post of additional commissioner.

The five officials, namely Deepak Hastir, A K Singh, Kiran Dabral, P R Sethi and S C Kohli had been working as ad hoc Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) for three years when they were promoted to the post of DCs on an ad hoc basis in July 2006. Their promotion violated the UPSC recruitment rules, according to which ADCs can be promoted to the rank of DCs only after they have served as part of “regular service” for a period of seven years or more.

Details of the 2006 files, copies of which are with Newsline, read: “As per the provisions of the Recruitment Rules, five years of regular service as ADC is required. However, as per the practice/ precedent in the MCD, length of service is counted... Based on this, all become eligible for promotion as deputy commissioners on an ad hoc basis. Five deputy commissioners, previously working on current duty charges (CDC) basis, having been found fit after examining the annual confidential reports. Fulfilling the prescribed benchmark “very good”... granted ad hoc promotion, initially for a period of one year or till such time the posts are filled up on regular basis, whichever is earlier”.

Incidentally, Deepak Hastir is now in charge of the Central Establishment Department that handles recruitment and promotions.

The agency, meanwhile, justified the promotion saying the decision was taken based on “precedents”. According to officials, CDC is an interim arrangement under which an employee is given a higher designation but not paid accordingly.

The officials further added that the agency did not consider the objections raised by Brij Mohan Sharma, the then chairperson of the MCD appointment committee, to the promotions in question.

Additional Commissioner, MCD Engineering Department, R K Shrivastava, had recently written to the Home Ministry regarding the irregularities, the officials added. Shrivastava confirmed that he had written to the Department of Personnel Training (DOPT), Home Ministry, seeking a clarification over the issue.

“The matter of irregularities in the promotion of some officials has been brought to light. I cannot confirm if some rules were actually flouted or if (the decision) going by precedent was right,” he said. “I hence wrote to DOPT seeking clarification on the recruitment rules,” Shrivastava said. A reply is still awaited.

The officials in question were unavailable for comment. While Hastir is currently the DC of Central Zone, Sethi is the DC of Narela

MCD Leader of Opposition Jai Kishen Sharma said he, too, had written to the Municipal Commissioner K S Mehra seeking a clarification on the issue. “It is unfortunate that rules had to be flouted to promote our officers; the matter needs to be addressed immediately,” Sharma said.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 December 2009 12:10
 
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