Civic body secretary rejects demand for special house meeting

The Secretary of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has rejected the demand of Jasbir Singh Bunty, Senior Deputy Mayor, and Jaswinder Kaur, leader of Opposition in the MC, for holding a special house meeting on the Manimajra housing project.

In a reply to both leaders, the secretary said since the Mayor is on an official visit for the BRICS summit in Russia, the same cannot be treated as absence. Hence, the request is rejected, he added.

Both the leaders had given a representation to the Municipal Corporation Commissioner and Secretary in this regard. Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Singh Bunty said under Section 55 (2), when the Mayor is on leave or abroad in the city, the Senior Deputy Mayor can call a special house with one-fourths majority. Therefore, he has demanded to call a special house meeting for a detailed discussion on the agenda of approving the housing project. They said the entire opposition was united on this issue. Bunty said councilors wanted to hold a special meeting of the corporation to discuss the issue related to the auction of the land of pocket no. 6 located at Manimajra in public interest, as there is a possibility of misuse of public money and assets.