Rediff On The NeT: Mayor-in-council bill passed in council


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April 17, 1998

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Mayor-in-council bill passed in council

The mayor-in-council bill, also called the Mumbai (Bombay) Municipal Corporation (amendment) Bill 1998, was passed by a voice vote by the Maharashtra legislative council yesterday, with 24 amendments voted out as suggested by the opposition members.

Chief Minister Manohar Joshi announced on the floor of the upper house that bill incorporating opposition-sponsored amendments will be tabled in both houses of the legislature on Monday or Tuesday next.

The passing of the bill was greeted by the members of the treasury benches with slogans. Earlier, Joshi emphatically declared on the floor of the house that the Shiv Sena government will never allow the separation of Bombay from Maharashtra. The state government will add such a clause to the mayor-in-council bill to allay fears on the issue, he said.

The chief minister was replying to the discussion on the bill, in the upper house. Earlier, the bill was adopted by the legislative assembly but was defeated in the council.

The bill was again tabled in the assembly with a suggestion that it should be referred to the joint select committee, but was rejected in the assembly. It was again tabled in the council yesterday, where it was passed in its original form.

The salient features of the mayor-in-council system are:

A full-time mayor-in-council with the mayor as its head, elected by and from among the councillors for a term of two and a half years, charged with the day-to-day administration of the civic affairs, which has a close resemblance to the cabinet system of government in parliamentary democracy.

Creation of office of the chairperson of the corporation, who is also to be elected by the elected councillors from among themselves, for a term of one year with a provision for reservation, by rotation, of the office for the members belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women and backward classes.

The existing standing committee and other statutory committees, all of which function independently and sometimes lack coordination, are being replaced by the mayor-in-council, and the municipal accounts committee. The said committee is to have the leader of the opposition in the municipal corporation as its ex officio chairman and eight other elected members, with a term of one year.

The members of the mayor-in-council are not eligible to be elected as the members of the said committee, thereby providing for a check and balance system and accountability for the mayor-in-council to other members of the corporation as well as the leader of the opposition. A member of the mayor-in-council is also barred from being a member of the wards committees, thereby ensuring decentralisation of power.

UNI

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