State govt to appoint administrator to PMC, PCMC effective March 15

With the tenure of the PMC general body getting over on March 14, municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar is all set to become an administrator with immediate effect

PUNE: As the state election commission (SEC) has not been able to conduct civic polls in time, the state government on Thursday issued a notification to appoint an administrator to the Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and other municipal corporations whose tenure is getting over this month.

With the state government having issued a notification to appoint an administrator to the PMC, PCMC and other municipal corporations, mayor Murlidhar Mohol and other office-bearers will have to surrender their portfolios along with all other benefits such as bungalow, office, car and additional manpower. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Urban development secretary Mahesh Pathak said, “As the tenure of municipal corporations is getting over and elections are not being conducted in time, I have issued orders to appoint an administrator to the municipal corporations immediately after their tenure is over.” With the tenure of the PMC general body getting over on March 14, municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar is all set to become an administrator with immediate effect once the general body’s tenure is over.

With the state government having issued a notification to appoint an administrator to the PMC, PCMC and other municipal corporations, mayor Murlidhar Mohol and other office-bearers will have to surrender their portfolios along with all other benefits such as bungalow, office, car and additional manpower. When asked, PMC officials were mum about the notification to appoint an administrator. Meanwhile PCMC officials confirmed that the notification to appoint an administrator has been issued.

According to officials, the tenure of the administrator will depend on the elections to be declared by the SEC. However, it may not be an easy option for the SEC to go ahead with the polls after the Supreme Court (SC) order refusing to accept the state OBC commission’s report. The state cabinet is currently exploring multiple options to restore the OBC quota for the ensuing elections. The state cabinet in its meeting on Thursday decided to seek legal opinion on whether a fresh bill allowing 27% quota was possible or like the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government, elections could be deferred citing administrative reasons. The state government is consulting the advocate-general and legal department after which a decision is expected in the state cabinet tomorrow.

The state cabinet also asked chief secretary Manukumar Srivastava and senior counsels to study options, including collecting data on political reservation for the OBC community in local bodies and submitting it to the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) to prepare a fresh interim report. This is being considered because the SC, while rejecting the interim report, pointed out that there is no data and analysis related to political reservation for the OBC community. Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis demanded that there should be no local elections till there was political reservation.

Some political observers said that for the next few weeks, all parties will take the stand not to contest elections before a decision on OBC reservation is taken but will later contest general elections to municipal corporations and zilla parishads. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Prashant Jagtap said, “Now, no one can tell when exactly the elections will take place. It may take three or four months or more time.” The BJP leader on condition of anonymity said, “If the administrator is appointed for more than two months, people will forget our development works carried out ahead of municipal elections and parties will need to campaign aggressively to remind the people about the works carried out.”