Congress tenure at MCC comes to an end

Team Udayavani, Mar 7, 2019, 12:03 PM IST

Deputy Commissioner to be appointed as MCC administrator 

Mangaluru: As the countdown for Lok Sabha elections begins, the five-year administration of Congress party at Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) and the power of the mayor will end on Thursday. Until the next election and selection of new members, the deputy commissioner is expected to look after the work and activities of the corporation after being appointed as its administrator.

Normally, as the tenure of any party at the local body draws to its end, the election process is naturally announced. But, since the ward reservation list has not yet been completed by the government, it was not possible for the state election commission to announce the date for the elections for the corporation. Besides, it’s being said that the main reason is the conduction of Lok Sabha elections is causing an hindrance for holding the local body elections in the state. The present Mayor Bhaskar K’s tenure is completing on March 7^th and after two decades a full-time administrator will be appointed.

The government had published a draft reservation on 25^th June 2018 in connection to the MCC elections. A weeks time period was provided for the submission of objections, if any. Later, the reservation was changed in 30 wards. On this occasion, all Congress corporators who were denied of the opportunity in the reservation list got the opportunity to contest in their individual wards. Other than a couple of present BJP corporators the remaining were devoid of the opportunity to contest again from their wards.  

In some wards the reservation was not done as per the rules. A few also put an application in the High Court claiming that three back-to-back reservation was being provided at the same location. Accepting this application, the Court passed the judgment demanding the cancellation of the reservation list published by the government in connection to the corporation elections. It also ordered that the reservation list be cancelled and a new list be created by Jan 28^th. But, instead of creating a new list the government has submitted an appeal. Because of this the election reservation has not become official. On the other hand, there is a possibility of the announcement of LS polls and in this period, even if the reservation list is published, it will be difficult to conduct the elections. Hence, for now MCC elections have been postponed. If everything goes as per expectation, the election may be held in August or September.

Five years only one chief whip

It is worth noticing that during the Congress party’s tenure at the MCC from 2014-2019, there was only one chief whip. MCC member Shashidhar Hegde won over the faith of both the opposition and his party members and participated in the MCC development works.

Once BJP Deputy Mayor

In 2016-17, during the administration of Mayor Harinath , even though Congress had the mandate, since there was a lack for an eligible reserved member, the deputy mayor’s position was provided to BJP’s Sumitra Kariya.

MCC administrators

Since 1988 to 2014, 13 people have been appointed as MCC administrators. Administrators are appointed when there is confusion on selection of a mayor or any other issues. These are the administrators who have been appointed so far:

Subhash Chandra Kuntiya (1988-89), Ranjini Sri Kumar (1989-90), K P Krishnan (2 Apr 1990 – 30 May 1990), Shalini Rajneesh Goyal (3 May 1995 – 20 May 1995), Bharatlal Meena (1995-96), B H Anil Kumar (1996-97), A K Monnappa (23 May 2002 – 17 June 2002), Maheshwar Rao (2007- 08), S Prakash (20 Feb 2013 – 28 Mar 2013), Harshagupta (28 Mar 2013 – 14 May 2013 ), S Prakash (14 May 2013 – 16 Dec 2013), Tulasi Maddini (16 Dec 2013 – 26 Dec 2013) and A B Ibrahim ( 26 Dec 2013 – 13 Mar 2014) worked as MCC administrators.

Advisory committee creation?

In the backdrop of the completion of the tenure of the people’s representatives at the corporation, henceforth all development works conducted within MCC limits will be conducted by the administrator and there is a possibility that a separate advisory committee may be created to provide suggestions and indications to the administrator. Voluntary organizations, social workers and persons from various areas are selected for this committee. There should be a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 25 members in the committee.

Developmental works take a hit

Since the government failed to publish the reservation list in good time, inevitable an administrator will be appointed for MCC. Because of this, the development work in all the wards within the corporations limit may fall on the back-burner. Since April-May is the summer season there will be water issues and if the preparations for the monsoon season occur at a slow pace, the general public may face some problems.

Administrator appointment

“In the backdrop of the reservation list not being published, election has not be announced for now. As the present Mayor and members tenure is drawing to its end on Mar 8^th, the district deputy commissioner may be appointed as the administrator,” informed Mohammed Nazeer, MCC Commissioner

Article by Prajnya Shetty translated into English by Aaron Dmello