The Hindu : Front Page : SEC for dissolution of Palakkad council

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Thursday, Oct 27, 2005

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SEC for dissolution of Palakkad council

Special Correspondent

If another bid to end the stalemate fails

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Election Commission (SEC) has given an implicit direction to the State Government to dissolve the Palakkad municipal council, which is finding it difficult to elect a chairperson.

The SEC on Wednesday told the Government that it should first examine the possibility of ending the stalemate through discussions with the various groups (the UDF, LDF and the BJP).

If the attempt fails, the Government can act as provided under Section 64(1-A) of the Kerala Municipalities Act, the SEC said. This section vests with the Government the powers to dissolve the elected council and place the municipality's affairs in the hands of an administrator.

With the UDF, LDF and the BJP sharing the seats in the municipal council and no front or party enjoying an absolute majority, two meetings called by the returning officer to elect a chairperson had already failed in Palakad. The SEC said that, without a chairperson, there would be an administrative deadlock in the municipality.

As per Section 10(1) of the Municipalities Act, a chairperson is a must for a municipality. The chairperson is the full-time functionary having responsibility over all affairs of the municipality. He or she has to supervise all activities, coordinate the functioning of all the standing committees of the municipality and implement the resolutions passed by the council.

The SEC noted that the chairperson's post in this municipality was reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate. Entrusting the chairperson's responsibilities to a deputy chairperson from a different category is tantamount to denying the Scheduled Castes the benefits of the reservation.

The SEC noted that a deputy chairperson could take over the responsibilities of a chairperson only in the absence of the chairperson. While the deputy chairperson heads the finance standing committee of the municipality, the chairperson is the ex-officio member of all the standing committees. When the deputy chairperson is asked to perform the role of the chairperson on a regular basis, it will mean the same person performing multiple roles. This will lead to an administrative impasse, the SEC said.

District hartal

Staff Reporter writes from Palakkad: The BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk district hartal (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) on Thursday in protest against Wednesday's Government order declaring the election of the vice-chairman of the council as null and void. Party district secretary N. Shivarajan said it wasa calculated move to dissolve the council.

Mr. Shivarajan said that the CPI(M) which was now trying to prevent the BJP from running the municipality had given a ``written request in 1992 to the BJP seeking support for the then CPI(M) chairman M.S. Gopalakrishnan. The party will release the letter written by the then area secretary of the CPI(M) seeking support to its candidate. They had run the council with BJP support then,'' he said.

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