Kerala - Kozhikode   

Resignation of municipal chamber chief sought

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE, MARCH 24. A section of the members of the State Municipal Chairmen's Chamber has sought the resignation of its chairman, M. O. John, from his post as he no longer enjoys a majority in the Chamber.

A total of 26 municipal chairmen, who are members of the Chamber had submitted a no-confidence motion seeking the resignation of the chairman at the general body meeting of the chamber (attended by 35 members) held at the Municipal House at Vazhuthacaud in Thiruvananthapuram on March 21. The copies of the no-confidence motion have been submitted to the municipal director.

This was stated to reporters today by the Chamber secretary, T. S. Radhakrishnan, and deputy chairman, N. C. Mohanan, both of whom are in the LDF.

They also claimed that they have the support of 27 members and also some of the members of the UDF in the 53-member chamber. The Chamber was formed as a democratic forum to bring to the attention of the Government the various problems faced by the municipalities with a view to finding a solution. They alleged that the present chairman has been following a policy that will `completely silence the chamber and destroy it'.

According to them, the chairman, though he now no longer enjoys the majority, has become the director board member of the Urban and Rural Development Finance Corporation (URDFC) by virtue of he being the chairman of the Chamber. They alleged that the chairman was embarking on a foreign trip to countries including South Africa. They demanded that the Government stop Mr. John from undertaking the foreign jaunt.

Not on agenda

They also alleged that though Mr. John term as chairman ended in 2002 (a year after he was elected), the former did not include the election to the post as an item in the agendas of the subsequent meetings till now.

``Even in the last meeting on March 21, Mr. John put forward the agenda of electing deputy chairman and secretary only. Earlier, he did not even put forward the agenda of election of deputy chairman or secretary.''

They pointed out that the election of Mr. Mohan as deputy chairman and Mr. Radhakrishnan as secretary is `a reflection of a general feeling that the chairman who is continuing in an undemocratic way should quit,' they said.

They said that Mr. John as chairman was not doing anything to stop the Government's measures that were destroying the municipalities. The present Government had cut short the plan fund to municipalities to 27 per cent from the 40 per cent allocated by LDF Government. The sanctioned fund was also not disbursed.

Lapse of Plan fund

Now the Government was `deliberately destroying' the functioning of municipalities by recovering the Plan Fund by March 31. The recovering procedure was initiated by citing that the maintenance grant sanctioned in January has not been utilised till March 31. But this was the same amount that municipalities got in the past as vehicle tax compensation and stamp duty. The Government had no right to recover the Plan Fund, they said.

The State Government has also stopped its contribution towards Central-sponsored schemes being implemented in the municipalities, they alleged.

K. T. Narayanan of Perinthalmanna Municipality and K. Dhananjayan of Koothuparambu Municipality were also present.

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