TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Newly-elected Margao Municipal Chairperson Gonzaco Rebello will complete 20 days in office on Monday, but there’s still no sign of the statutory panels, including the Standing and Subject Committees falling in place till date.
Section 63 of the Goa Municipalities Act, 1968 mandates the Municipal Chairperson to call a special meeting of the Council within seven days of his election. In fact, the Municipalities Act does not leave any discretion to the chairperson to convene the special meeting. Instead, the Act makes it mandatory for the Municipal chief to call the meeting within seven days, one to determine the number of members of the Standing Committee and to hold election to the Standing and Subjects panel in the manner prescribed by the government.
Officials in the know said the chairperson has defaulted in calling the special meeting and have sought to lay the blame on the civic officials concerned to guide the new municipal chairperson in fulfilling the statutory duties. “The Goa Municipalities Act does not leave any scope for discretion or choice to the municipal chairperson to call a special meeting to constitute the Standing Committee. The Act categorically states that the Chairperson is required to call the meeting within seven days,” remarked an official.
Incidentally, when Herald contacted Gonzaco to shed light on the delay in convening the special meeting on the matter, he confessed that the meeting could not be held within the mandatory time frame. ‘I have discussed the matter with the municipal officials and have now decided to call the meeting by next week,” Gonzaco told Herald.
