A CPI(M) councillor Wednesday filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill 2018, which was passed in the West Bengal Assembly recently.
The amended act, to which the governor has given his assent, enables a person, who is not an elected councillor, to be made the mayor of a corporation. The person would have to be elected within six months to continue in the post.
The amendment facilitated the taking over of Firhad Hakim, who is not a councillor, as mayor of KMC. Hakim is a minister in the West Bengal cabinet.
Claiming that a stranger cannot be elected mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the assembly does not have the authority to change laws governing the election of a mayor to a civic body, CPI(M) councillor Bilkis Begum filed the writ petition, her lawyer Shamim Ahmed said.
The councillor prayed for the nullification of the amendments, claiming that the amended act is unconstitutional,
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