Appointment of BMP Administrator challenged

Bangalore, Nov 28 (UNI) The appointment of Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Energy) Dilip Rau as the Administrator of the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BMP), till the commencement of term of office of the newly elected councillors, was today challenged in Karnataka High Court.

Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice B S Patil adjourned hearing on the writ petition, filed by ex-Councillor M Nagaraj, till tomorrow for want of time.

The petitioner contended that the impugned notification, dated November 23, was arbitrary without authority of law, and illegal as it had been issued under Section 47 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, which was not connected to the subject matter.

The said section dealt with penalty for disorderly conduct in or near polling stations. Only section 100 dealt with the appointment of administrator, subject to certain conditions, and hence the impugned action was illegal, unconstitutional and without application of mind.

Moreover, the appointment had been based on the preliminary notification for formation of Bruhat BMP, which had not reached its finality and therefore the appointment could not have been done on the basis of a statute which had not come into existence, he contended.

UNI XR GD KR BD1921