At an emergency Corporation Council meeting convened on Wednesday, Kochi Mayor Mercy Williams presented a resolution to rollback its decision to allot land for two trusts for constructing memorials in the city.
The council's latest move will undo the earlier resolution to allot land for trusts.
Ms. Williams told the council that such a decision was taken after the trusts — T.K. Ramakrishnan Cultural Centre and E.K. Narayanan Cultural Trust — informed the corporation that it did not require the corporation land for building memorials.
The corporation council had earlier decided to allot 66 cents to T.K. Ramakrishnan Cultural Centre at Pachalam; a similar decision was taken in the case of the other trust too. The E.K. Narayanan Cultural Trust has urged the corporation to construct the memorial at its own place.
The council has not taken any decision to allot land for a memorial for Koru Asan, a former councillor.
Maintenance
The council decided to construct and maintain the memorials on its own, the resolution said.
The UDF had raised a volley of protests, both inside the council and outside, on the issue of land assignment.
The Front leader A.B. Sabu had also filed a case in the Kerala High Court forcing the civic authorities to revoke the decision. Several social leaders including jurists and academicians had also opposed the assignment decision.
Fissures in LDF
Much to the embarrassment of the administrators, the decision had created fissures in the ruling LDF. CPI leader and Town Planning Standing Committee chairman E.M. Sunilkumar openly opposed the proposal.
He said that the issue did not come up for consideration at the committee's meeting, which was to decide on such proposals.
As the Mayor read out the resolution on Wednesday, V.J. Hycinth of Congress made a scathing attack on the ruling front for the wrong procedures it adopted for allotting land.
Accusation
He accused the Mayor of pursuing personal agenda at the expense of the civic body.
The administration was attempting to make personal gains using tax payers' money, he said.
The Mayor then declared the resolution as passed and ended the proceedings.
Protest
Mr. Sabu said that the Mayor ended the council proceedings abruptly to escape the embarrassment created by its wrong decisions and the public resentment against the civic body.
The Mayor violated the democratic rights of the councillors by ending the council proceedings without discussion, he said.
