The Opposition parties in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation are set to strongly oppose a new amendment proposed in the BMC Act, 1988 that will empower the Mayor, as the chairperson of the house, to deploy marshals to evict unruly councillors from the civic house, bar such councillors from participating in other civic committees, and authorise a physical search when they enter the house.
The Opposition on Thursday declared its intent to oppose the proposal strongly when it come ups for discussion at the Group Leaders meeting, scheduled on Friday. Congress group leader Pravin Chheda told The Hindu , “The proposed amendments are totally unconstitutional. The Opposition parties are united on the issue and have decided to oppose it in the Group Leaders meeting tomorrow.”
His Samajwadi Party (SP) counterpart, Rais Sheikh said, “The BMC commissioner has no powers to make such recommendations and is doing it to only score brownie points with the ruling dispensation. He has merely got powers to make suggestions to the elected body of the civic administration and cannot bring in such amendments. We will not allow this to pass muster at the Group Leaders meeting.”
The move comes in the wake of a huge ruckus created by the Oppositon councillors on Feb 18, 2016 while demanding a statement by BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta regarding the recurring fires at Deonar dumping ground. “The confusion and cacophony created on the issue was also used by some corporators to take occasion and dump some garbage before the Mayor’s chair which was in violation of all tenets of decorum and highly indisciplined behaviour,” the proposal says.
It adds that while section 36 (A) of the BMC Act, 1888 confers powers upon the Mayor to order such undisciplined councillors to immediately leave the house, the Mayor’s powers under this section are limited. The proposal seeks to empower the Mayor to make use of the marshals to evict such councillors who disobey the chair's directive.
The civic administration has also proposed amending section 36 A (1) of the Act in order to prevent such suspended councillors from participating in other civic committees like Standing Committee, Improvements Committee etc.
The writer is a freelance journalist
