One third of 5-year term reserved for a woman mayor
TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: The elections to the posts of Mayor and deputy mayor of Corporation of the City Of Panaji will be held on April 4, as announced by Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza in the Assembly Monday.
He also said that “in consultation with legal advisors, the government has decided” that mayoral elections are to be held in the first meeting of the financial year, except for the first meeting after elections are held to the CCP.
The government also decided to reserve one third of the five-year term for a woman mayor and that corporators would also have to declare their assets since the Lokayukta Act will be made applicable.
“Until the Corporation frames its own rules and bye laws, they have to abide by Municipalities Act rule,” the deputy chief minister told the Assembly.
The monthly meeting will be obligatory, failing which it will be deemed as “remiss in the performance of the duty by the mayor, which may lead to removal of the Mayor from the post”, he said, adding that “More reforms after making a reality check shall be brought in to make the functioning of the CCP truly democratic, transparent. The CCP shall be insulated from the tendency of malpractices, which have been witnessed in the past.”
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, whose party-backed panel is ruling the CCP had last week justified the postponement of the elections citing procedural lapses regarding the timing of the election and Mayor Vaidehi Naik had been asked to continue holding charge until the amendments were made to the CCP Act 2002 and effected by the DMA.
D’Souza was replying to the calling attention motion by BJP MLA Pramod Sawant that stated that there was “apprehension and anxiety in the minds of the people, especially residents of Panjim due to the postponement of elections thereby subverting the democratic process of elections.” He wanted to know what steps the government intended to take.
D’Souza told the House that those who talk about democracy need to introspect on the meaning of democracy, and “whether bringing down a duly elected government by manipulation and politicking at the level of the Governor, was democracy”.
“There are several instances which can show that the so-called saviours of democracy had in fact been guilty of its murder and they cannot still digest the fact that the people of Goa have punished them precisely for this murder of democracy,” he said.
He justified the postponement by stating that it was linked to some applications that were received from some prominent citizens from the city ~ he later clarified that there were two one Mapsekar and another Sukerkar ~ that pointed out that the CCP Act stipulated that the meeting to elect the mayor should be held in the first meeting of the year and the issue of one third reservations for woman for the post of mayor.
He also alleged that even after 8 years since the first council, the previous government had not framed any rules or bye-laws.
St Cruz MLA Atanasio Babush Monserrate, speaking on the issue welcomed the inquiry into the shops scam and said that the government should expedite the inquiry while reching out to the chief minister to “come together for the development of Panjim”.
Group of 16 fail to get HC relief
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa turned down the plea of 16 CCP corporators for ad-interim relief and restraining the sitting Corporation of City of Panjim’s Mayor and Deputy Mayor from exercising their powers, through a writ petition filed last Friday on the issue of postponement of elections to the two offices.
The writ sought the quashing of the order postponing CCP elections by Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues on the directions of the government in the letter issued by Director of Municipal Administration (DMA).
When the matter came up for hearing Monday, counsel Subodh Kantak, appearing for the petitioners, requested ad-interim relief, which was not given by the court.
“…having regards for the provisions of the CCP Act 2002, ad-interim relief at this stage is rejected…It is not a fit case for ad-interim relief,” the Bench comprising of Justice AP Lawande and Justice UV Bakre said.
The Bench also adjourned the hearing on the main petition to April 3. Incidentally, when the matter was being heard in the High Court, the government announced on the floor of the House that CCP elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy on April 4.
During the arguments earlier in the day, Kantak alleged that government’s last minute decision to postpone the CCP election was with ‘malafide intention.’
“Government has no powers to interfere in the election. The postponement by the DMA was done at the instance of the government,” he argued.
Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni in his counter argument said that Act does not specify the term of the posts is one year. “There is no duration like that of Corporation or Assembly which is five years… It shows the legislative intention to have Mayor by rotation and the “year” in Section 22 of the CCP Act 2002 doesn’t mean 365, but, as and when the new Mayor is elected,” he told the Court.
Arguing further, Nardkarni said since the definition of the word “year” is not defined in the Section 22 of CCP Act, the government decided to go by General Clauses Act.
