Though the standing committee of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is not formed as per the seat-sharing equation of Konkan Commission, this legal technicality cannot stop the functioning of the committee, ruled a panel of senior legal experts.
It gave a go-ahead to the civic administration to conduct the election of the chairperson of the committee so that it can start functioning.
The civic administration has decided to conduct the election of standing committee chairperson on August 7. Since the Sena has an upper hand in the committee, the chairperson from the party too will be elected without opposition.
In May, the old committee was dissolved and a new one formed.
The Sena had defied the Konkan commissioner’s seat-sharing directives and claimed that the general body has equal rights to decide the seat-sharing equation of a civic committee. Despite the NCP giving five names, only four were called out by the mayor while nine members of the Sena were considered instead of eight in the 16-member committee.
A TMC official said, “Since the standing committee was not formed, most proposals of the standing committee were send to the general body for approval, which is held only once a month as opposed to weekly or fortnightly meetings of standing committee. This has led to delay in most developmental works. The discussion on the budget also could not be conducted in the standing committee.”
{{/usCountry}}A TMC official said, “Since the standing committee was not formed, most proposals of the standing committee were send to the general body for approval, which is held only once a month as opposed to weekly or fortnightly meetings of standing committee. This has led to delay in most developmental works. The discussion on the budget also could not be conducted in the standing committee.”
{{/usCountry}}The Nationalist Congress Party-Congress had opposed the committee formed in May, thus TMC could not conduct the election.
The official added, “We had approached a panel on legal expert to decide if the election of chairman can be conducted despite the controversy over seat sharing in the recent committee. The legal experts said the election can be conducted and the committee can carry out its usual functioning despite the controversy. Thus, we have slated the election for August 7.”
The nomination for the election should be filed by August 5. The Sena might prefer the sitting chairperson Ram Repale. But, there are also chances of Sena corporator Sanjay Bhoir getting the post. Bhoir family joined the Sena before the civic polls after the Sena promised them plum posts.