By-poll: Civic body caught between code & BPMC Act

The state election commission directive for the state legislative council by-polls has put the Pune Municipal Corporation in a fix as the code of conduct bans meetings of civic committees.

The state election commission directive for the state legislative council by-polls has put the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in a fix as the code of conduct bans meetings of civic committees.

The meetings,normally held weekly or fortnightly,are vital to taking decisions related to administrative matters,including development work and policy decisions. As per the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (BPMC) Act,it is mandatory for the civic body to hold these meetings regularly. It says the PMC should hold standing committee meeting every week while meetings for City Improvement Committee,Legal Committee,Pune Tree Authority etc are to be held every fortnight.

The commission notification allows only meetings for tabling the budget while all other meetings would be suspended. We have urged the district election officer to consider the provisions of the BPMC Act and issue corrections in its notification, said Pravin Ashtikar,deputy municipal commissioner (special).

The by-election for the legislative council seat from Pune Local Authority constituency is scheduled on March 26. The seat had fallen vacant after legislator Laxman Jagtap resigned after his election to the Assembly last year.

District election officer Chandrakant Dalvi said,The PMC has been asked to wait until further directions from the state election commission.

Until Friday,the meetings were conducted as scheduled but no decision on policy or approval of financial matters were taken so as to not violate the code.

P 2,27 from NCP want to contest

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