Civic chief can’t override standing committee’s decision: HC

The municipal commissioner is duty-bound to abide by the decision of the standing committee and cannot override it, the Bombay high court (HC) said on Wednesday,

The municipal commissioner is duty-bound to abide by the decision of the standing committee and cannot override it, the Bombay high court (HC) said on Wednesday, while hearing a petition filed by three men who were sacked by the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation abruptly.

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AV Bukhari, the lawyer for the trio, said they had done a fire-fighting course from an institute in Aurangabad
and were appointed to the fire department in 2010 based on
the certificate of the
institute.

The commissioner issued a termination order to them in 2016 on the grounds that they did not complete the course from a Maharashtra
State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) recognised institute.

In 2017, the standing committee quashed the termination order and ordered their reinstatement.

A year later, the general body approved their reinstatement. However, the commissioner failed to comply with the order, after which the employees approached the HC.

The commissioner submitted in an affidavit that if the trio completed the course within a year, they would be reinstated. A division bench of justices Ranjit More and MS Karnik held the commissioner must comply with the order of the standing committee, passed in exercise of the statutory powers under Section 56(4).

It further said that the trio should be reinstated and the corporation should bear the cost of the course.

The bench also gave liberty to the commissioner and corporation to take appropriate action if the trio failed to complete the course within the stipulated period and disposed of the petition.