Govt dissolves Kolkata Municipal Corporation board, names Smita Pandey as admin

KOLKATA: The state government on Monday dissolved the Trinamool Congress-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) board and appointed municipal commissioner Smita Pandey as the administrator of the civic body, formalising the authority she has effectively exercised since the assembly election results were declared on May 4.

The board was dissolved under subsection (1) of Section 117 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980. All the councillors and committee members were directed to vacate their offices.

All powers and duties earlier exercised by the municipal board, mayor and the mayoral council have been vested in the administrator.

The move comes amid a churn within the civic body after Firhad Hakim resigned as mayor on Friday, citing Bengal's "changed political situation". Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had earlier said the state's BJP government had rendered the civic body "ineffective".

Trinamool, which had won the 2021 KMC polls by an overwhelming majority, briefly explored nominating a new mayor, but the plan was stillborn because most party councillors reportedly expressed their inability to attend a meeting convened by KMC chairperson Mala Roy on Sunday.

In recent weeks, KMC has seen heightened disruption, including a failed attempt to convene the House.

The corporation's buildings and assessment department issued notices to properties linked to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and carried out demolition drives against properties linked to Faiz Ahmed, Raju Naskar and Sona Pappu, all considered close to the former governing party.

The arrests of multiple councillors on extortion charges, along with political uncertainty triggered by two councillor-MLAs, Javed Khan and Sandipan Saha, turning rebels in the assembly, further unsettled the KMC set-up.

The government order dissolving the KMC board, signed by the additional chief secretary in the state municipal affairs department, specifies that the arrangement is interim. The administrator can remain in charge for up to six months, or until a new board is formed through an election, whichever is earlier.

Sources said the KMC authorities waited till late afternoon on Monday for news from the Trinamool municipal party on whether it wanted to field a candidate to succeed Hakim as mayor.

A survey by TOI at the KMC headquarters on Monday revealed that most Trinamool councillors were absent. The few who were spotted had turned up to know whether the government had dissolved the board.

A section of Trinamool councillors expressed surprise over the leadership's silence during such a crisis and a shift from the earlier stand of nominating a successor whenever a party functionary stepped down from the post of mayor.

"Firhad Hakim has left us in the lurch by resigning at a time when several councillors have been arrested and many others are fearing the same fate," said a councillor from south Kolkata.