A MAJOR uproar ensued during the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Council meeting over the absence of Municipal Commissioner Sanskriti Jain on Wednesday. Chairman Kishan Suryavanshi was displeased to see the Commissioner’s empty chair during Question Hour and sternly reprimanded her. He remarked that the Municipal Commissioner’s office is not a personal fiefdom and emphasised that the Chair commands a certain dignity. Noteworthy, as far as the appointment of a Municipal Commissioner is concerned, a notification is issued by the Government to a person to exercise, perform, or discharge the powers, duties, and functions which are conferred or imposed by or under The Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956. The Municipal Commissioner plays key role in the corporation. Tenure of IAS officer like Harendra Narayan as Municipal C o m m i s - sioner and brief period of S a n d e e p Kerketta as a Deputy Co m m i s - sioner is b e i n g r e m e m - bered by severals due to transparent and timely execution of important matters by these officers. They earned respect not only for timely execution of welfare schemes but for their public dealing also. Frequent visitors of the BMC and even councilors were not surprised by such an arrogant attitude from this public servant, as some of them had complained even before this episode. Not only the Chairman, but councilors also voiced their objections regarding the Municipal Commissioner’s absence and attitude. Remarkably, the said meeting was held after five months at a time w h e n d e n i z e n s here are f a c i n g s e vere hard s h i p d e a l i n g with basic civic issues e.g., water logging , potholes, illegal structures, etc., and it was organised at an expense of lakhs of rupees.

 

Amid all this, the empty chair of the Municipal Commissioner remained the focal point of discontent throughout the meeting. There are some reports of tension between elected representatives and administrative officers at the State-level too. Sometimes issues arise when bureaucrats fail to acknowledge or respond to official communications from MLAs, leading to widespread governance friction and legislative complaints, but these are few and do not pertain to denting the decorum of house proceedings. Here, in the BMC Council meeting, the Chairman Kishan Suryawanshi, known as an authoritative and decisive public representative, once again proved his mettle instead of making complaints that officials are not listening to them. He firmly issued a warning (a welcome move); the Chairman stated that such an incident must not recur, or else it would lead to a permanent exit. The atmosphere in the Corporation House became heated following the incident. The Chairman (often called the Speaker) of a municipal corporation meeting leads the assembly, manages the agenda, enforces rules of order, and maintains decorum. He may demand updates from the municipal commissioner regarding past decisions made by the house. The Act has given power to many, but how and when to utilise it is important to execute (someone’s) duty at its absolute best.