Amid unprecedented protest from the members of Bharatiya Janata Party, the Uttar Pradesh government has got two controversial Bills, which curtails the rights of Mayors and even allows the state government to sack them over financial irregularities, passed in Vidhan Sabha without any amendment from the opposition. The Bills were tabled in the House at noon and were passed within next 90 minutes amid pandemonium in the House. Due to the uproar by the BJP members, the House passed budgetary grants of 41 departments through voice vote without going for a debate.
As the BJP members continued raising slogans inside the well of the House the BSP members staged a walkout to protest BJP’s attitude of holding the House at ransom. “This shows the connivance between BJP and SP. Both the parties do not want discussion on the budget therefore this drama is being enacted,” leader of opposition Swamy Prasad Maurya said before staging the walkout.
When Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey asked Government to table the bill on Nagar Nigam and Nagar Palika BJP members rushed into the well of the House and raised slogans against the government terming it as a ‘ Black law’. Speaker asked BJP members to let the bills be tabled and they can oppose it when it is taken for approval. However, the government in a surprise move first laid the bills in the House and got it passed amid uproar.
When BJP leader Suresh Kumar Khanna said that he wants to move an amendment, speaker said that the Bills have already been passed. The Bills are Uttar Pradesh Municipal law (Amendment) Bill 2015 which prevents the nominated members in the urban local bodies to vote while the second Bill is Uttar Pradesh Nagar Nigam (Amendment) Bill 2015 which regulates the responsibility of the Mayors and Palika Chairpersons. State urban development minister Mohammad Azam Khan said that these Bills only ensure that Mayors, who are elected representatives, should be held responsible for their acts including financial irregularities. “The amendment has been made to ensure more accountability to the chairperson of the municipal bodies,” he said.
“The BJP seems to be trying to protect the corrupt Mayors,’ Khan said. The bill makes it mandatory for the Mayor to take permission from Government for any expenditure over Rs 15 lakh. He cannot appoint a person and transfer any employee.
BJP has 10 Mayors out of the total 13 in the state and the new Bill gives authority to the government to sack the Mayors if they are found involved in any financial irregularities. The new amendment in the UP Nagar Nigam (Amendment) Bill 2015 have made categories the Nagar Palika in three groups as per the population besides gives the power to the government to transfer the employees of Muncipalities from one to another. The Bill also proposes to set up a fund from the money collected through imposing fine of encroachments. The Bill also gives in detail about the fines to be imposed on the chairman.