In a significant setback to the Ludhiana municipal corporation’s (MC’s) leadership, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has ordered fresh elections for two councillor posts in the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) after the Punjab Government declared the mayor’s nominations to the panel legally invalid.
The directions came during the hearing of a petition challenging the appointments, when the municipal corporation informed the court that the local government department had withdrawn its approval to Resolution Number 106, passed on March 24, after finding it contrary to the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976.
In an August 1 communication, the deputy director, local government, clarified that under Section 42(4) of the Act, the two councillor members of the F&CC must be elected by fellow councillors and cannot be nominated by the mayor. Consequently, the Mayor’s June 24 order appointing two councillors to the committee was declared void, and the nominated members immediately ceased to hold office.
The department further directed the MC to fill the vacant posts strictly through an election as mandated by law.
Taking the government’s communication on record, the high court directed the civic body to complete the election process before September 11. To ensure transparency and avoid future disputes, the court also ordered that the entire election process be videographed.
{{/usCountry}}Taking the government’s communication on record, the high court directed the civic body to complete the election process before September 11. To ensure transparency and avoid future disputes, the court also ordered that the entire election process be videographed.
{{/usCountry}}The order was passed in a petition filed by councillor Gaurav Bhatti, who had challenged the legality of the mayor’s nominations. Following the government’s decision, both nominated councillors, including Aman Bagga, son of Ludhiana North MLA Madan Lal Bagga, and councillor Yuvraj Singh Sidhu, son of Atam Nagar MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu, stepped down from the committee amid mounting political and legal scrutiny over their induction on August 3.