Ward Committee, Area Sabha meetings a must: GHMC Commissioner

Hyderabad, February 28 : GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu said that conducting of Ward Committee meetings once in two months and conducting Area Sabha once in three months is mandatory in the GHMC limits.

The GHMC Commissioner said that as per the 74th amendment of the Constitution conducting of Ward Committee and Area Sabha meetings was a must for the local body though the publicity for the amendment and enactment of the same were very good in beginning but the performance is not up to the expectations for which the High Court has also given interim directions to conduct Ward Committee and Area Sabha meetings regularly. He held a review meeting with Zonal Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Secretaries of the Municipal Wards today in Panwarhall GHMC Head Office on functioning of Ward Committees and Area Sabhas in their jurisdictions.

Krishna Babu has directed the Secretaries of the Municipal Wards to request in writing the Corporator concerned for fixing of date and time for keeping Ward Committee meetings even after two to three such requisitions if the time is not fixed he should bring the same to the notice of the Ward Committee Members and can facilitate the meeting with the majority of the Ward Committee Members. In case of emergency of works if the majority of Ward Committee Members submit a requisition notice by duly mentioning the time and date of the meeting, the Secretary should take it to the notice of the concerned Corporator and can facilitate the meeting with his consent. Though even if the Corporator is not willing to conduct the meeting within 48 hours the Secretary can facilitate the meeting with the majority of Ward Committee Members by duly recording the resolutions. The Commissioner also informed that the Corporator of the Ward can face disqualification if he fails to conduct the Ward Committee meetings continuously.

He also mentioned that Ghansibazar, Mehdipatnam, Saleem Nagar, Azampura and Puranapul divisions are shown very bad performance in this regard and may face severe consequences.

The Commissioner said that if the Area Sabha representatives call for a meeting by fixing the date and time the Secretary can conduct the meeting if more than 50 voters of that particular Ward and majority of the members are present. The Secretary has to take the attendance of the people present and to record the resolutions, he said. The Commissioner also said that the Secretary has to record the resolutions only when half of the ward committee/ Area sabha members present in the meeting excluding the Chairman of the Ward Committee ie., Corporator.

The Commissioner has also directed the Secretaries to update the website with resolutions on par with the registers they are maintaining. If the officers to be present are not attending the Ward Committee meetings, the Commissioner directed the Secretaries to report the same to the concerned Deputy Commissioner. INN