Hold Jhalda civic body chief polls on Jan 16: HC

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the state municipal affairs and urban development departm-ent’s December 2 notification nominating Trinamool Congress councillor Jaba Machhowar as chairperson of Jhalda municipality in Purulia. The court directed the Purulia DM to conduct the election of the municipality chairperson at 11am on January 16.Justice Amrita Sinha had earlier stayed the notification till January 5 and directed the DM to oversee municipal work in the meantime. On Friday, the judge asked the DM to videograph the municipal board meeting on election day.Congress councillor Shila Chatterjee had moved the HC challenging the state notification. The state had invoked section 17/4 of the Municipal Act to fill the void after the Trinamool-run municipality chairman, Suresh Agarwal, was voted out in a no-confidence motion by five Congress and two Independent councillors on the 12-member board on November 21.The state notification was issued a day before the board meeting called by three councillors last Saturday. They took the initiative after news spread that Jhalda municipality vice-chairman Sudip Karmakar had resigned on November 28, without calling a board meeting to elect the new chairperson. The three councillors elected Chatterjee as chairperson.