Appointment of Pratima as market panel chief raises many questions

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

MARGAO: Appointment on Wednesday of Councillor Pratima Coutinho as chairperson of market committee by Margao Municipal Council has thrown up more questions than answers.

Herald inquiries have now revealed that Pratima was never elected as a member of the market panel in elections held at a special meeting on October 9. Minutes of the special meeting shows that the presiding authority had declared Doris Texeira, Dadi Mayenkar, Babita Naik and Laxmikant Kamat as duly elected members of the market panel after the withdrawal of two Councillors, Rosy Pereira and Avinash Shirodkar. Pratima’s name does not figure in the list of elected members, raising the moot question whether a non-member can be elected by the Council on the statutory committee such as market panel.

That’s not all.  Rules mandate election of only four councillors on the market panel and officials in the know say that it’s beyond the powers of the council to add another member on the statutory panel. Given the situation, officials say that Pratima can take over the reins of market chairperson only in the event of first getting elected on the market panel and then contest the post of market committee chairperson. Secondly, there’s no vacancy for the moment on the market panel, with none of the four members putting in their papers from the committee.

“Unless, anyone of the members quit the panel, there cannot be any election for the market panel. Pratima can contest election for the market panel only after one of the four members quit the committee,” remarked an official in the know.

When the row of sorts was brought to the notice of the Municipal Chairperson Dayanand Deulkar, he admitted that the Standing Committee and the Market and Sanitation panels are statutory Committees.  Deulkar was in two minds how to go about the matter since the Council a day ago had resolved to appoint Pratima for the post of market vice-chairperson after Vice Chairperson Dadi Mayenkar expressed his intention not to hold on to the post of market vice chairperson.

Councillor Avinash Shirodkar who had proposed the motion to appoint Pratima Coutinho as the Market committee Chairperson, has now admitted that the Council should conduct election to the post of market committee vice chairperson.

Opposition Councillor Tito Cardozo wondered how the Council can appoint someone as the market committee chairperson when she is not a member of the panel.