Mangalore City Corporation will get a regular commissioner within a month, according to Mayor Mahabala Marla.
Opposition party councillors at a meeting of the council on Monday took the Mayor to task as the civic body had been working without a regular commissioner for over two-and-half months now. They said that if the civic body was to march forward, it required a regular commissioner.
When the meeting began, Dayananda Shetty, a councillor of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), held a placard and sat in the well of the House to register his protest against the government for not posting a regular commissioner. He returned to his seat after the Mayor allowed a discussion in the matter.
Leader of the Opposition Premananda Shetty from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that Deputy Commissioner (administration) Gokuldas Nayak has been entrusted with a double responsibility as in-charge commissioner also. He said that if he was eligible to become the commissioner, the Mayor could ask the government to post him as a regular commissioner. The government could post an official as Deputy Commissioner (administration). Mr. Shetty said that the government should post a commissioner for the smooth functioning of the civic body and to take important decisions. Many Opposition councillors agreed with the views of Mr. Shetty.
The Mayor shot back saying that the absence of a regular commissioner has not affected the functioning of the civic body. Mr. Nayak enjoyed the powers of the regular commissioner, including those related to finance.
He said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was aware of the matter and he had told media persons here (at the Mangalore International Airport) on Saturday that the government would post a commissioner shortly.
J.R. Lobo, MLA, and Ivan D’Souza, MLC, who came to the rescue of the Mayor, said that both of them and Mohiuddin Bava, MLA, discussed the matter with the Chief Minister on Saturday. The Chief Minister has assured them of posting a regular commissioner within 10 days, they added. The debate on the matter came to an end after the Mayor assured the council of getting a regular commissioner posted within the next monthly meeting of the council.
