December 2, 2020 5:41:53 am
Image used for representation purposes
On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court ordered BJP-nominated BMC corporate Bhalchandra Shirsat to pay 1 lakh rupee to the civic body for failing to challenge the Municipal Corporation Standing Committee Rules and for ‘wasting BMC’s time’ on your petition against the decision of the general of the civic body. body that ratifies the decision of the Standing Committee to disqualify it.
On Tuesday, the HC continued with the provisional handover of Shirsat to remain a member of the Standing Committee until further orders and said it will hear her request on Wednesday.
A bench in the division of Judge SJ Kathawalla and Judge RI Chagla was listening to Shirsat’s plea and was informed by attorney Amogh Singh that Shirsat wanted to challenge the rules on which the civic body had relied, through which he has said that the member of the Standing Committee was required to be an elected member and therefore Shirsat’s disqualification was justified.
The court then asked the lawyer why the same was not included in the previous allegations and why he was arguing without preparations.
The court then requested Shirsat’s presence, after which he appeared in court and confirmed that he was willing to challenge the Standing Committee Rules. Shirsat said the rules referred to by the BMC were contrary to the Mumbai Municipal Corporations Law. The court then detained Shirsat and asked whether such incomplete preparations were justified in the matter with ‘high stakes’.
The HC then asked Shirsat to pay Rs 1 lakh to the BMC on Tuesday night in case he wanted to defy the rules, which he complied with.
Shirsat was disqualified from the Standing Committee by Shiv Sena Chairman and Leader Yashwant Jadhav on October 21 and subsequently went to court challenging the order, claiming it was ‘illegal’ and in ‘colorful power’.
The BMC led by Shiv Sena, during the ‘urgent’ general body meeting convened on October 23, ratified the Standing Committee’s decision to disqualify Shirsat.
The move came after the HC on the same morning (October 23) granted provisional relief to Shirsat to continue as a member of the Standing Committee until the court hears her statement.
The HC had allowed the general body of the BMC to proceed with the meeting to make a decision on whether Shirsat should be allowed to continue as a member of the committee. However, he had asked the civic body not to implement the decision, if he opposed petitioner Shirsat until the next hearing.
The court had previously allowed Shirsat to amend her guilty plea and challenge BMC’s decision.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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