Ex-civic chief held guilty of breach of privilege

In an rare move, the Maharashtra Assembly today adopted a report of the Privileges Committee that held former Amravati Municipal Commissioner Chandrakant Gudewar guilty of breach of privilege for bypassing a local legislator in the implementation of a housing project, and recommended one-day House Custody against the official.
The Privilege Committee headed by Sudhakar Deshmukh tabled its report in the House today, recommending action against Gudewar for bypassing and disrespecting an elected representative.
The committee has directed Gudewar to be present himself before the Assembly Speaker and tender an apology.
It also recommended that he should be placed under the House Custody for a day for the breach of privilege.

Speaker Haribhau Bagde was in chair when members of the committee Atul Bhatkhalkar and others submitted the report.
According to the report, Gudewar, who was Municipal Commissioner at Amravati between May 2015 and May 2016, completely ignored local MLA Sunil Deshmukh (BJP) while finalising the list of beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

Gudewar did not take into cognisance the suggestions made by Deshmukh, neglected his views and drafted the list and sent it to the state government. Later, Gudewar even went on to address the media and boast that he did not consult the elected representatives.
The Committee stated that Gudewar will not get any executive posting in the near future and directed Chief Secretary to summon Gudewar for "crossing his limits".

The committee had held 17 meetings and summoned both Gudewar and Deshmukh, in which they were examined and cross-examined.
Deshmukh had lodged a complaint of breach of privilege against Guedewar on March 30, 2016 and it was subsequently admitted by the House Committee.