SMC Mayor bypasses Municipal laws
_Nominates committee chairpersons without General Council_
Srinagar, Nov 26, KDC: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation Mayor has violated the Municipal laws by nominating chairperons to different committees without taking vote of consent from the General Council.
The Mayor also violated the laws as the committees stand disbanded by the previous Acting Mayor Parvez Qadri.
The nominations has opened a pandoras box in the Corporation as majority of corporators have raided the banner of rebellion against the Mayor.
According to the order of SMC Mayor Junaid Mattu issued on Thursday (November 25, 2021) by constituting the committees of the corporation and nominating his “favorite” corporators as chair and vice chairpersons of the committees.
According to news agency Kashmir Dot Com legal experts say this is a violation of laws of the corporation which clearly mention that without the General Council, the Mayor cannot elect or nominate chairpersons to the committees.
These committees were disbanded by the Deputy Mayor Parvaiz Qadri when he was Acting Mayor in 2020.
Qadri as per order issued on 16 June 2020 had disbanded these committees.
Parvaiz Qadri opposed the nomination by saying that this is a clear violation of laws.
“I will be the first person to welcome empowerment of Hon’ble corporators but this order from the mayor’s chair is an attempt to befool corporators & is also a blatant violation of the MC act 2000 because these committees were already disbanded on 16/6/2020,” Qadri tweeted on Thursday.
“Now, if such an order has to be implemented. It must go through the council via a resolution passed by the majority of corporators in the general council again. Hon’ble mayor must go through the Act before issuing such illegal & unconstitutional orders. Hope Rajbhawan acts,” he said.
Angry with the violations, a corporator from Ward 20 of the city, Muhammad Hanief Bhat, has resigned.
“I am resigning from the post of vice chairperson, Beautification committee at @SMC_Srinagar @AtharAamirKhan @AshokKoul59,” he tweeted.
Corporator Zubair Ahmad said the nominations are serious misuse of the power by thr Mayor.
“This is a serious misuse of chair. Hon’ble mayor has disrespected the constitutional right of all elected corporators who have the mandate to pass a resolution on the formation of these committees. We demand immediate roll back of this order @OfficeOfLGJandK,” he wrote on Twitter.
Pertinent to mention that Junaid Mattu was removed as Mayor of SMC in June 2020 when majority of corporators voted him out in a no confidence motion.
Sources in the SMC told Srinagar based news agency Kashmir Dot Com (KDC) that the violation of rules to nominate chairpersons is likely to trigger another no confidence motion against the Mayor in coming days. (KDC)
