The Hindu : Court stays Ombudsman order against Kochi Mayor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 20, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Court stays Ombudsman order against Kochi Mayor

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, FEB.19 . The Kerala High Court today stayed the order of the Ombudsman for Local Self-Government Institutions directing the Kochi Mayor, C.M. Dinesh Mani, to appear in person before the Ombudsman on February 23 and show cause why he should not be made liable for the maladministration of the Kochi Corporation.

The interim order of the Ombudsman had also observed that "if the Mayor fails to comply with the direction, it will be taken that he has no objection in this forum making the declaration and the proceedings against him for the contempt of the authority of Ombudsman will be initiated separately'.

Justice M. Ramachandran passed the stay order on a writ petition filed by the Mayor. The petition also challenged the order issued by the Ombudsman on February 2, directing the Corporation to suspend all activities coming under part B and C of the First Schedule. The Ombudsman had made it clear that all the development works being executed with the funds provided by the Government directly would not be affected by the interim order. If the Corporation failed to deliver, the "forum will be compelled to initiate appropriate penal proceedings and also suggest to the Government to dissolve the Corporation under Sections 64 and 65 of the Kerala Municipalities Act", the interim order had said.

In his petition, the Mayor said that the orders were illegal and abuse of power conferred on the Ombudsman. The repeated reference to the petitioner having earlier approached the High Court and obtained a stay on the power of the Ombudsman over municipalities and the Municipal Corporation seemed to have irked the Ombudsman into passing such orders. The orders contained unwarranted and disparaging remarks against the petitioner, he said. In fact, the comments were not based on any facts or any investigation conducted by the Ombudsman into complaints, if any, against the Corporation. The petitioner had not been given any notice before making such comments. The orders had not been issued in genuine exercise of the power of the Ombudsman under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act. The power had been "exercised maliciously by the Ombudsman."

The petitioner attributed the motive for issuing such order to " personal animosity" towards the petitioner. Though the Corporation had submitted a statement detailing the activities being carried out in compliance with the Ombudsman's directives, the Ombudsman had not considered the same. The functions of the Ombudsman did "not extend to the passing of the orders restraining the municipality from undertaking any activities under Part A and B in Schedule 1 of the Kerala Municipalities Act." Besides, the Ombudsman had no power to punish for contempt. Nor he had the power to order personal appearance of Mayor. Therefore, the orders were mala fide and violative of natural justice.

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