RTI: Municipalities run by in-charge officers for yrs

Times of India: Trichy: Monday, 02 March 2020.

Pudukottai may soon be declared a special grade municipality going by the revenue and rate of development it has, but the selection grade municipality is still to have a full-time commissioner, being run only by in-charge officer for over seven years now.

This is not the only civic body run by in-charge officers, as the state has a total 50 others facing the similar fate. “A total of 50 of the 121 municipalities in the state remain headless managed only by in-charge officers for years together,” said V P Sankar, former ward councillor of Manapparai Municipality.

The revelation came from commissioner of municipal administration (CMA) in a reply to an RTI query. When urban local bodies are yet to go to polls, decision making is largely affected in these local bodies as it being run by in-charge officers, he said. Revenue of the local body is affected by the same, said former local body representatives.

“For instance, a few shops constructed by the municipality park road has been shut over the last six months in Manapparai. The in-charge commissioner has been delaying tender to allocate shops which could have earned revenue to the municipality all these months,” Sankar said.

In most municipalities, manager should ideally be made the in-charge commissioner. However, municipal engineers have been given the responsibility as it is easy for the local politicians to obtain tender allocations, says K Muhamed Hussain, CPI town secretary, Trichy.

“We can approach engineers for emergency issues related to roads, street lights and drinking water supply. Engineers are responsible for about half field work and in-charge commissioner is an additional burden to them which often delays decision making,” he said.

Saying that nepotism has been rampant in such municipalities, Ibrahim Babu, former councilor of the Pudukkottai municipality, said that there was rule that close relatives of councillors should not get tender allocations. “But that rule has been thrown to the air,” he said.

Acknowledging that there are the vacant posts of commissioners in municipalities across state, commissioner of municipal administration K Baskaran said that appointments would be made soon to the vacant posts.

There are certain routine steps that needs to be followed while making appointment. Many steps should to be followed in the selection of officers and no pending vigilance inquiry is one of the main requisite, he said. Necessary steps are being taken to fill the posts for smooth administration, he added.