Borsad imbroalio not resolved; ball in Collector's court

Anand, Mar 21 (UNI) BJP state president Kamlesh Patel, alias 'Bihari', and his 11 supporters were today absent at the 'no-confidence' vote for the Borsad Nagarpalika, held as per the Gujarat High Court directive.

During the 'no confidence' motion held under the observation of court-appointed observer Mr P C Joshi, Bihari got 25 votes against him.

District Collector A V Joshi's has now been entrested with resolving the impasse and electing a new president of the civic body.

The High Court had ordered a fresh trust vote against the Borsad BJP president within seven days in a ruling on March 17, 2007 and the District Collector yesterday fixed March 21 as the D-day.

On March 6, 2007 a no-confidence motion was moved by Kaushik Solanki and Ramesh Rabari, two of the 25 independents in the Borsad Nagarpalika, against 'Bihari'.

However, the District Collector had then ordered to maintain 'status quo' in the Borsad Nagarpalika, 18 km from here.

BJP presently has 11 members. When the party lost the motion, Bihari had locked the main boardroom meeting hall and on a complaint by the independents to Nagarpalika chief officer Kirit Patel, the lock was broken open the next day on March 7 to allow the 25 independents to enter the hall.

Following a complaint to Collecter A V Joshi by Bihari, the Collector on March 7, ordered a status quo to be maintained that prevailed before the no-trust motion was moved.

Against the decision of the Collector, Kaushikbhai and Rameshbhai moved the Gujarat High Court contending that the action of the Collector was malafide as Kamleshbhai had lost the trust vote and was no longer the president. They also claimed full support of 23 other independents.

The court then accepted the contention of the petitioner and overruled the status quo. It also ordered that until a new president was elected, the vice-president of Borsad Nagarpalika Aminuddin Malik would be the in-charge of the affairs of the Nagarpalika.

UNI