MARGAO
After the bitter row over the mode of election for the battle to control the Margao Municipal Council, the poll ghost has come back to haunt the municipality, this time over the constitution of the statutory committees including the Standing Committee and Subjects Committees.
Newly-elected Margao Chairperson Damu Shirodkar is bracing up to convene the council’s first special meeting to constitute the Standing Committee and the Subjects Committees. For, the Goa Municipalities Act mandates a newly-elected municipal chairperson to convene a special meeting to constitute these statutory panels within seven days after the election.
While the Chairperson is expected to hold the special meeting in a day or two to determine the number of members of the committees, the moot question, however, remains unanswered “ how would the council go about the mode of election of members on these statutory panels if a poll is inevitable in the event of more than one councillor vying for the posts? Will the election for these panels be held by secret ballot or by show of hands or whether the Presiding Officer, this time the municipal chief officer, stick to the election rule book containing specific guidelines for election for the committees?
The election for the committees is under the spotlight, more so against the backdrop of the government promulgating an Ordinance to do away with voting by secret ballot vis-Ã -vis election for municipal chairperson and vice-chairperson.
When The Goan called up the Director of Municipal Administration Gurudas Pilarnekar to shed light on the mode of election for the municipal statutory panels, he merely said election for the committees are to be conducted by the council and the DMA has no role in holding such election.
"These elections are conducted by the Chief Officer. The DMA does not intervene in such elections," he said.
Given the situation, Margao Municipal Chief Officer Manuel Barretto has come under sharp focus since he will be called upon to lay bare the rules for the election of the committees and stick to the book.
When contacted, Barretto said he would check with the administrative section to ascertain what exactly the rule book lays down on the election of the committees.
Officials in the know informed that the Ordinance promulgated by the government doing away with voting by secret ballot and replacing the same by show of hands is restricted only to the election of the municipal chairpersons and vice-chairpersons.
“The recent Ordinance is very clear that election for the municipal chairpersons and vice-chairpersons should be held by show of hands. It does not speak of any other election. We will have to wait and watch whether the MMC Chief Officer interprets the new rule of election by show of hands and extend the same to the ensuing election for the committees or go by the rule book,” the official said.
A retired MMC official told The Goan that the government has framed rules for election for the committees and are guided by the system of priority votes, wherein the voters have to cast their votes as per the priority.
“This system of election is complicated and ought to have been amended first and lay down a procedure a la the normal mode of election,” the retired official said.
In fact, the retired official pointed out that successive Margao municipal councils had avoided elections to these statutory panels given the complicated procedure by forging a consensus between the ruling and opposition members.
Provision for standing and subjects panels for all classes of councils
- 1) Every municipal council shall appoint a Standing Committee and may appoint such Subjects Committees, as it may deem necessary
- 2) The Standing Committee shall consist of such number of members as the council may determine, so however that the number of members so determined shall not exceed one-third of the total number of councillors: Provided that in so determining the number of the members of the Standing Committee, a fraction shall be ignored
- 3) If the council decides to appoint any Subjects Committee, such Committee shall consist of not more than five members, as it may determine
- 4) The President shall, within seven days of his election as President under section 52 call a special meeting of the council for the purpose of:
(a) determining the number of members of the Standing Committee;
(b) determining the Subjects Committee or Committees, if any, to be appointed, and the number of members of each such Committee, and if more than one such Committee are to be appointed, the Subjects Committee of which the vice-president shall be the ex-officio Chairman;
(c) holding elections to the Standing Committee and the Subjects Committee or Committees, if any, in the manner prescribed by the government
- 5) If more than one Subjects Committee are to be appointed, the Chairman of the Subjects Committee, other than that of which the vice-president is to be the ex-office Chairman, shall be elected by the members thereof, at the meeting convened under sub-section 4
