The confusion over the term of the remaining 11 Standing Committees of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which will be constituted on October 30, has now been resolved with the legal experts making it clear the panels shall exist for one year from the date of election.
Mayor S.K. Nataraj, who sought clarification from Advocate-General Ashok Haranahalli, wanted to know if the term would be six months or one year considering the BBMP Council was elected six months back.
What the Act says
In his response, Mr. Haranahalli said Section 10 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976 provides for holding the election for Mayor and Deputy Mayor at the first meeting of the BBMP after election of councillors. According to Section 11 (5) of the KMC Act, the term of office of the members of the standing committees is a year from the date of their election.
Right now, the BBMP has only one Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance. The amendment to the KMC Act (to increase the number of Standing Committees from eight to 12) came into effect on July 27. The number of members in the committees has also been increased to 11 in the amendment.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the Opposition and the Ruling Party were on to determine the seat sharing in the 11 standing committees.
Wrangling on
According to sources, leaders of the Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) and the BJP have been negotiating on the number of seats to be accommodated for each political party. While the BJP has been demanding seven seats in each of the 11 committees and has earmarked three for Congress and one for the Janata Dal (Secular) or independent candidates, the Opposition wants five seats.
