the goan I network
MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council Chief Officer Sidhivinayak Naik has said he would seek legal opinion on the question whether any statue can come up in a traffic island in view of the Supreme Court order on statues in public places.
Even as MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai pushed the ball in the court of the Chief Officer to comply with the procedure on installing Dr Jack de Sequeira’s statue in the traffic island near Ravindra Bhavan, the Chief Officer said he would seek legal opinion on the controversy, making it categorically clear that the civic body would not go ahead with the Expression of Interest on the installing of Dr Sequeira’s statue in the event the legal opinion comes negative. “The opposition councillors have submitted to me a copy of the Supreme Court order in connection with the installation of statues on public roads, including triangles. I will get the Supreme Court order examined by the Municipal lawyer as well as legal experts to find out whether MMC can go ahead with the installation of Dr Sequiera’s statue at the traffic island,” he said.
Opposition councillors Rupesh Mahatme, Doris Texeira, Arthur D’Silva and Ketan Kurtarkar have warned the Chief Officer not to rush with the statue matter in haste, saying they will even go to the extent of knocking the doors of the Judiciary on the issue. While reiterating they are not opposed to Dr Sequeira’s statue, the opposition councillors clarified that they are opposed to the way the civic body is intending to go about the work bypassing the laid down guidelines.
Incidentally, when the media drew MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai’s attention to the claims made by the opposition that the Supreme Court has set guidelines on installing statues on roads, she said it’s the responsibility of the Chief Officer to comply with the set procedure.
