Meet on mayor's term in July-end

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JULY 10. The demand for extension of the term of office of the mayors of six cities is under the consideration of the Government, although a final decision on the matter may take more time.

The Minister for Urban Development, Mr. B.B. Chimmanna Katti, told presspersons here on Tuesday that the Government had received representations and suggestions from various quarters. The term of the mayors was 12 months, and they were demanding that it be extended to at least 30 months, he said. (The Mayor of Bangalore, Ms. Prema Cariappa, has urged the Government to extend the term to five years as in Chennai and other cities.)

Mr. Chimmanna Katti said a meeting of mayors and deputy mayors apart from chairmen of urban development authorities and others would be held in the last week of July to seek their views on important matters concerning the urban bodies. The term of office of mayors and deputy mayors would be discussed. The Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, would attend the meeting, which would be held over two days. The dates would be finalised based on the Chief Minister's engagements, he added.

Successive mayors of Bangalore have demanded extension of the term of office to five years. They say that it takes time for them to ``settle down'', and that their tenure ends before they can implement their ideas. By and large, there is hardly any continuity in the development works since each mayor has an independent line of thinking on developing the infrastructure of his or her city.

Amendments: Mr. Chimmanna Katti said the proposed amendments to the Karnataka Municipal Act would come up before the legislature during the ensuing session. One of the important amendments pertained to changes in the rules governing the transfer of municipal corporation employees. With the adoption of legislation, the employees of any given rank of any municipal corporation could be transferred to another corporation. Employees of municipal corporations could now be transferred only within the jurisdiction of the body, since municipalities enjoyed the status of a local government, he pointed out.

The minister said the preparation of the cadre and recruitment rules for the employees of urban development authorities was in the final stages, and these should be ready in about a fortnight. There were no rules governing the employees of such authorities, resulting in most of the authorities having ad hoc procedures. With the drafting of C and R rules, the employees of urban development authorities would be subjected to inter-authority transfers. These measures were aimed at improving the efficiency of the employees of civic agencies, he added.

BUDA chief's appointment: On the ``bungling'' by the Government in the appointment of the Chairman of the Belgaum Urban Development Authority (BUDA), he said it could not be considered a lapse since, at times, the Government assessed the antecedents of the nominee only after the nomination had been made. The Government appointed BUDA Chairman and then ``stayed'' the appointment since he was reportedly involved in criminal cases. Such appointments were the prerogative of the Chief Minister, he added.

Quotas: To a question on reservation of the posts of president and vice-president of the urban local bodies to which elections were held on Sunday, the minister said it would be finalised after the High Court issued an order. Reservation of the posts in the local bodies to which elections were held earlier had been challenged in the High Court, and orders from the court were expected shortly.

Mr. Chimmanna Katti said the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) would be extending a Rs. 200-crore loan to the Government for financing the urban development authorities which were facing funds crunch. On the receipt of loan, the Government would fund housing layout development taken up by the authorities, and each authority would be given financial assistance based on its requirement. A survey was in progress to look into the requirements of each development authority, he added.

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