The Corporationof the City of Panaji (CCP) while proposing to nominate Kabir Makhija andKishore Sastry as co-opted councillors had falsely stated that they wereexperts in the field of Engineering and Urban Administration respectively. Thishas been revealed in the information obtained from the CCP under the RTI Act.
As per theinformation furnished, the Panaji Mayor Rohit Monserrate on 7th April moved anote to the Commissioner proposing the names of Kabir Makhija as expert inEngineering and Kishore Sastry as an expert in Urban Administration fornomination as councillors.
Immediatelyon 9th April, the then CCP Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues wrote to the Directorof Urban Development proposing the names of the two for being co-opted as councillorswithout verifying the expertise of the two proposed to be nominated.
Interestinglythe bio-data submitted by Kabir Makhija and Kishore Sastry which is on file andcopies of which have been furnished under RTI does not make any mention ofhaving any expertise in Engineering and Municipal Administration.
Section 9(b) of the CCP Act makes a provision to nominate up to five councillors beingpersons having special knowledge or experience in municipal administration,engineering, architecture, archaeology, heritage, etc.
The appointmentof Kabir Makhija and Kishore Sastry as co-opted councillors is in total breachand violation of the CCP Act as both do not meet the requirement to benominated as councillors not having the necessary special knowledge orexperience in the required fields.
