Governor nod to revised KMC bill paves way for Firhad Hakim

KOLKATA: The last-moment nod from Raj Bhavan to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill saved the day for Trinamool Congress, clearing the decks for urban development minister Firhad Hakim to file his nomination for the mayor’s post on Wednesday.
The bill was passed by the state assembly last week and the governor’s assent to it was necessary to pave way for an “outsider” to contest for the Kolkata mayor’s post.
Trinamool seniors had been holding their breath all through the day on Tuesday before state advocate general Kishore Dutta called on Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in the evening and finally got his go-ahead after a scrutiny of the bill for an hour.
KMC chairperson Mala Roy heaved a sigh of relief because she had already fixed the filing of nomination on Wednesday, days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced Firhad’s name as mayor-elect and nominated Atin Ghosh as deputy mayor, after mayor Sovan Chatterjee put in his papers.
The amendment to the KMC Act, 1980, was crucial for Firhad’s nomination, because Section 6 of the Act provides that the elected members of the corporation shall elect from among themselves the mayor and the deputy mayor. Under the prevailing Act, no person other than an elected councillor is eligible to contest as mayor and deputy mayor. The amendment bill allows a person from outside to become the mayor. He, however, has to get elected within six months from the date of his appointment as mayor.
The opposition said the amendment goes against the constitutional provisions. Former urban development minister Asoke Bhattacharya cited Article 243 R(1) to argue that the Constitution provides that all members of KMC have to be elected.