The Local Self-Government Department is understood to have forwarded the delimitation proposals cleared by the Cabinet for another scrutiny of the Finance and Law departments.
Official sources told The Hindu here that the proposals to carve out 28 municipalities, 66 grama panchayats, and upgrade Kannur municipality into a corporation were cleared by the Cabinet without considering their financial implication and ignoring legal procedures.
The Finance Department is understood to have raised objections against going ahead with the delimitation, which is likely to incur a burden of Rs.100 crore to the exchequer.
New posts
Formation of new local bodies involved fixing of a staff pattern, creation of new posts, infrastructure facilities, and a host of such other formalities. The government had not made a preliminary assessment about any such aspect before giving the nod to the proposals, the sources said. Already, there was a ban on creating new posts and restrictions on expending funds. The current financial position of the government was not conducive to bearing such a huge expenditure. This situation prompted the Local Self-government Department to send the proposals for another vetting by the Finance Department, the sources said.
The Panchayat Department was reported to have sought the suggestions of panchayats on delimitation through the Deputy Director of Panchayats, the sources said.
The government had received nearly 700 proposals from all over the State. A majority of them were allegedly ignored before approving the latest batch of proposals. Moreover, formation of a new panchayat involved a series of procedures. The only exception in the past was the formation of Idamalakkudi, a tribal panchayat in Idukki with a population of 500, as a special case. Even this was completed after reaching a political consensus. Hence, the decision to forward the delimitation proposals to the Law Department for a thorough scrutiny, the sources said.
The run-up to the local elections due in September was inadequate to complete such a huge exercise sans complaints. In all probability, the process would get bogged down in legal tangles, the sources said.
Financial position of government a hurdle
Legal procedures reportedly ignored
