Upper House sends back mayor’s bill

March 23: The Maharashtra government suffered a major embarrassment today as the Congress, which still retains a wafer thin majority in the ...

March 23: The Maharashtra government suffered a major embarrassment today as the Congress, which still retains a wafer thin majority in the Legislative Council, defeated the much touted Mayor-in-Council bill by a narrow margin of a vote.

The ruling Shiv Sena has 16 members in the Upper House, while the BJP, its ally in the government, has 13. The Congress has 31 members in the House but it was supported in its bid by one member of the Samajwadi Party (Hussain Dalwai), one of the Peasants and Workers Party (D Y Patil) and one from the Janata Dal, Venkappa Patki. The Sena-BJP appeared to have got two additional votes bringing their tally to 31.

The bill had been under discussion for the last three sitting days of the Legislature. All opposition members led by Chhagan Bhujbal, who is the leader of the opposition in the council, were quick to place on record their doubts about the “open invitation” to corruption that they said the bill allegedly held out. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s defence that the billwas meant to actually restore democratic rights to the people by departing from a system instituted by the British and would not lead to more corruption obviously did not convince them.

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The opposition has been demanding that the bill be referred to a joint select committee. Technically, it cannot be presented in the House for another six months now, according to constitutional procedures. Since this constitutional time lag is beyond the time when the next monsoon session will convene, in case the government is wary of forcing a confrontation, the bill can now come up for further discussion only in the winter session of the legislature which will sit in Nagpur not before November-December, thus setting the introduction of the mayor-in-council system back by almost a year. However, it is likely that it will be presented to be passed again by a thumping majority in the Assembly during the monsoon session whereupon the council will have little alternative but to endorse it.

The government’s defence thatCalcutta had successfully instituted a Mayor-in-Council system was countered by the opposition benches by saying that the West Bengal capital could not be a role model for Mumbai.

“While Calcutta is yet to recover from its sinking status, the commercial capital of India is the goose that lays the golden eggs.” The opposition members also pointed out that the municipal corporation of Calcutta looks after just the sewerage in Asia’s largest city. In Mumbai, on the other hand, the municipal corporation is responsible for a lot more including the electric supply, the bus service, the health services and schools. In West Bengal, on the other hand, it is the government rather than the municipal corporation which is in charge of all these functions.

Bhujbal was categorical in stating that the state government was in a hurry to slay its golden goose and eat it up before one had a chance to say boo’.