Zirakpur civic body’s no-confidence motion meet fails to break deadlock

The Zirakpur Municipal Council (MC) meeting called to discuss the no-confidence motion against president Udayvir Singh Dhillon today failed to break the deadlock.

As directed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the meeting today saw only 21 of the total 31 councillors, Dhillon and Dera Bassi MLA Kuljeet Singh Randhawa in attendance.

Randhawa and 21 rebel Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillors voted in favour of the no-confidence motion. Dhillon, however, claimed that 22 councillor votes were needed to get the requisite two-third majority to pass the motion.

Besides the 31 councillors in the House, the MLA’s additional vote brings the strength to 32.

Sharing details, Zirakpur Executive Officer Parvinder Singhh Bhatti said, “The proceedings of the meeting have been sent to the Local Government Department, which will take the decision according to the MC rules.”

Dera Bassi Congress in-charge Deepinder Singh Dhillon, meanwhile, said, “If any arbitrary decision is taken by the government against the MC president, he will have to move the High Court again.”

The court-appointed advocate, Gurpreet Singh, was present as an observer with Mohali Deputy Commissioner, Dera Bassi SDM, SP Rural and Zirakpur DSP ensuring a free and fair conduct during the meeting.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court last month held that the July 15 no-confidence motion meeting against Dhillon was invalid as it had not been convened by a competent authority under the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911. The Bench further had clarified that only the MC president or vice-president could fix such a meeting, and no other authority was empowered to do so. A fresh no-confidence meeting was ordered for October 3.

The court traced the controversy to the requisition dated June 28, 2024, moved by one-fifth of the elected members to bring a no-confidence motion. Acting on this, the president had on July 3 fixed the meeting for July 5. That meeting saw only five councillors in attendance and was treated by members and the administration as adjourned owing to inadequate security.