“Guardian ministers have duty of oversight,’ HC rejects plea by Mumbai Congress chief challenging BMC’s decision on allocation of funds

Dismissing petition by city Congress president Varsha Gaikwad and two former corporators challenging the BMC’s decision to delegate powers of recommending allocation of funds for development works to guardian ministers in the city, the Bombay High Court held that the concerned ministers had ‘duty of oversight’ and there was nothing wrong in putting such a system in place.

After the five-year term of the corporators ended in March 2022, the government appointed BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal as the administrator and later the guardian ministers were delegated powers to recommend approval for allocation of development work funds.

A division bench of Justice Gautam S Patel and Justice Kamal R Khata passed an order in plea by Gaikwad and and two former corporators Ashraf Azmi and Meher Mohasin Haider that challenged BMC’s resolution of February 16, 2023, that delegated powers to guardian ministers Mangal Prabhat Lodha (Mumbai suburb) and Deepak Kesarkar (Mumbai city) to allocate funds based on representations submitted by the MPs and the MLAs. The Court termed the petition as ‘thoroughly misconceived and politically motivated”. The petitioners claimed that the BMC’s decision had resulted in illicit allocation of funds and discrimination in allocation of funds to the opposition parties. The bench said the petition seemed to ‘ensure allocation of funds as per wishes of petitioners,’ and the same was inconceivable.