The New Indian Express 21.05.2013
BBMP meeting on 24th
The BBMP Council’s monthly meeting is scheduled to be held on May 23, almost two months after the last meeting.
This will be the last meeting to be presided over by Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy. However, no policy decisions can be taken in the meeting as the Mayor’s tenure has ended last month.
Also, the BBMP Council meeting cannot take any policy decisions without conducting Mayoral elections and also without electing the Chairpersons of various Standing Committees.
According to Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act 1976, the Council should meet at least once in a month to discuss different issues affecting the city and also to take many policy decisions. However, the monthly meetings were not conducted in March and April as the model code of conduct was in force in view of the State Assembly election.
“D Venkatesh Murthy will sit in Mayor’s chair at the Council meeting. The meeting can neither take a policy decision nor pass any resolutions. The Councillors can speak about the problems in their wards,” sources said.
“We are conducting the meeting just for the sake of not violating Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976,” added sources.
The process to elect the new Mayor and the Deputy Mayor will be initiated based on the High Court directions. On April 25, the Urban Development Department filed a writ petition in the court challenging the April 19 order that directed the BBMP to elect a Councillor belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) to the post of either Mayor or Deputy Mayor in the election that was to be held on for April 27.
“A full-fledged Council meeting will be conducted only after the new Mayor and the Standing Committee Chairpersons are elected,” a Councillor told Express.
