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Local bodies poll: pleas against reservations to be heard on Oct. 10

Monday, 03 October 2011 12:03 administrator
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The Hindu               23.09.2011

Local bodies poll: pleas against reservations to be heard on Oct. 10

Mohamed Imranullah S.

Petitioners contend government cannot amend rules at eleventh hour

The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday said that it will decide on October 10 the validity of a Government Order (G.O.) issued on September 7 amending Rule 5 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats, Third-Grade Municipalities, Municipalities and Corporations (Delimitation of Wards or Divisions and Reservations) Rules, 1996.

The original rule stated that reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women in the offices of Chairman of Town Panchayats, Municipalities and Mayor of Corporations should be followed for two full terms (10 years) and rotated thereafter at every 10-year interval based on the next higher percentage of population of respective groups. However, the government now chose to amend the rule and make reservations afresh, during the upcoming local body elections, irrespective of the fact that certain posts were already under reservation for 10 years. The decision to make fresh reservations was taken in view of the expansion of territorial limits of 16 urban local bodies in the State this year.

According to the G.O., 25 Municipalities, 30 Town Panchayats and 96 Village Panchayats were merged with 16 urban local bodies pursuant to the 2006- elections. Eight Municipal Corporations of Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai, Tirupur, Erode, Vellore and Tuticorin and eight Municipalities of Kancheepuram, Tirupattur, Villupuram, Hosur, Namakkal, Karur, Pudukottai and Nagercoil had been expanded by adding nearby Municipalities, Town Panchayats and Village Panchayats.

While there were only six Municipal Corporations in the 2006 elections, the number had risen to 10 this year. The number of Municipalities too increased from 102 to 125. Consequently, the number of Town Panchayats decreased from 561 to 529 and the number of Grade III Municipalities came down from 49 to nil. In view of the changes in territorial limits of 16 urban local bodies, the strength of the councils was revised upward based on the 2001 population census figures. Therefore, the government felt that there was a need to make reservation afresh in respect of the 16 urban local bodies.

However, two individuals, A. Kaja Mohideen of Ambasamudram Municipality in Tirunelveli district and S. Balakrishnasamy of Virudhunagar Municipality, had filed individual cases challenging the G.O. They claimed that the two Municipalities had been reserved for women this year also though they had already completed the mandatory tenure of 10 years under reservation.

A Division Bench of Justices P.P.S. Janarthana Raja and Aruna Jagadeesan on Thursday posted the two cases for final hearing on October 10. They directed Additional Advocate General K. Chellapandian to file the government's counter affidavit on that day. Earlier, arguing for the petitioners, senior counsel AR.L. Sundaresan and T.S.R. Venkataramana contended that the government could not amend the rule related to reservation at the eleventh hour.

 

Chennai Corporation set to have 45 more wards

Monday, 03 October 2011 11:54 administrator
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The Hindu                  12.09.2011

Chennai Corporation set to have 45 more wards

City Bureau

Total area to increase from 174 sq km to 426 sq km


The expanded Chennai Corporation will have a total of 200 wards spread across 15 zones. The total area will increase from around 174 sq km to 426 sq km. A Government Order pertaining to the expansion, issued recently, and details of the new ward limits were placed before the Corporation Council on Thursday.

The expansion, from the existing 155 wards and 10 zones, involves bringing areas in the neighbouring local bodies. The expansion is based on comparisons with other major cities such as New Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Greater Hyderabad and Greater Bangalore.

The delimitation has been carried out on the basis of 2001 Census. A detailed exercise for delimiting the wards of the expanded Corporation was carried out by the civic body in consultation with local bodies concerned giving consideration to factors such income, area and population. The expansion would help the Corporation generate more resources, optimise expenditure and improve administration.

For better administration, the civic body recently made a proposal for appointment of three Additional Commissioners having offices in Saidapet, Basin Bridge and Anna Nagar. The council meeting on Thursday adopted a resolution permitting the civic body to obtain government approval for constitution of 15 ward committees after the local body elections next month. It also approved the delimitation of wards and list of 4,877 polling booths.

The new northern boundary of the city would be Kathivakkam, the southern boundary Uthandi and on the west it would be Ambattur.

Ward 1 of the expanded Corporation would include 12 wards from Kathivakkam Municipality and ward 200 would be Semmanchery. Names of all wards would be decided in due course.

Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan said delimitation of wards had been done considering factors, including geographical boundaries, arterial roads, population and administrative convenience. A total of 18 Assembly constituencies and portions of six constituencies are being brought under the expanded limits.

Mayor M.Subramanian said population of each of the wards would be around 45,000 of which eligible voters 35,000. The existing 155 wards in Chennai city would become 107 wards. Of the newly announced 200 wards, 116 have been categorised as general, 58 are for women, 17 for Scheduled Caste of which 9 are for women.

To a query, he said from an administrative point of view, the expansion would come into force on the date of the notification of elections for Chennai Corporation Council. The Commissionerate of Municipal Administration has provided a list of recommendations to the Chennai Corporation to bridge the gap in infrastructure development in the areas merged with the city. Officials of the CMA said solid waste management and bad roads in suburban areas, particularly in north and western suburbs, posed a challenge.

Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd. is preparing project reports for improving infrastructure at a cost of Rs.1,050 crore in nine municipalities to be merged with the city. The eight town panchayats and 25 village panchayats to be brought under Chennai Corporation would be covered under a Rs.2,000-crore proposal.

On delimitation of wards, K. Madhu, a resident of Pulianthope said the size of his ward would become bigger making it difficult for councillors and officials. B. Kannan of Okkium Thoraipakkam said though Rajiv Gandhi Salai and East Coast Road have developed, residential localities on either side have not. “The local bodies do not undertake any developmental activities,” he said.

 

11 panels told to submit detailed reports for Coimbatore city expansion by August 27

Monday, 03 October 2011 11:50 administrator
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The Hindu       07.08.2011

11 panels told to submit detailed reports for Coimbatore city expansion by August 27

Karthik Madhavan

The 11 committees the Coimbatore Corporation had formed to study the city expansion project will go into details and submit a fresh, in-depth report on August 27.

Sources in the civic body said after the committees submitted their initial findings on Saturday, they were asked to do a fresh, scientific study in such a manner that would help in the preparation of a detailed project report to take up works in the 11 local bodies to be integrated with the Corporation.

The sources that the committee on solid waste management would, for example, study the waste generated in a ward of a local body and scale it up for the entire local body. Though this might not be accurate, it would present a near approximate picture of the waste generated in the local body.

The committee formed to study water supply would study how many borewells needed to be dug, the water availability in each of the 11 local bodies and suggest what needed to be done to ensure that residents of the 11 local bodies also got 135 litres a person a day.

The sources also said that the committee on tax collection would study the tax potential in the 11 local bodies, the number of tax collections centres needed to be established, etc.

The committee on street lights had identified that the city would have another 28,000-odd street lights if the 11 local bodies were to be integrated.

Now they would study what needed to be done to bring them under the Corporation's power conservation programme and how many energy savers were needed.

In the run-up to the city expansion, the Corporation is also toying with the idea of expanding its underground drainage network.

This would be in addition to the 583 km sewerage network the Corporation is laying at present for Rs. 377 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The sources said that the plan was to lay another 125 km sewerage network at areas in the city that had been excluded from the present project and the 11 local bodies. The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board had been tasked with studying the UGD needs of the 11 local bodies.

The sources said the Corporation would co-ordinate with the 11 local bodies and the TWAD Board in implementing the project.

 
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