Opposing the State government’s decision to appoint a non-official as Chairperson of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Friday, demanded that the Chief Minister withdraw the decision.
BJP spokesperson S. Suresh Kumar told reporters here on Friday that he had written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanding that the decision be dropped.
Terming the move “inappropriate” and “counter-productive”, Mr. Suresh Kumar said the government was in the process of amending Section 3 of the BWSSB Act, which mandates that only a retired chief engineer or an IAS officer can be appointed as the chairperson.
He said the administrative structure of the BWSSB was different from other boards, which have a Managing Director and a Chairperson. Ever since it was formed in 1964, only four of the 38 officials who headed it were non-IAS officials. The four — Ghulam Mohammed, K.G. Katwe, B.N. Thyagaraj and Puttakempanna — were retired chief engineers of the BWSSB, he said.
