Left Democratic Front (LDF) councillors in the Kochi Corporation have petitioned the Minister and Secretary for the Local Self-Government Department against the decision of the civic administration to discuss the four annual performance audit reports and Mayor’s Development Fund together.
A special session of the corporation council has been scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the five reports.
“It’s impractical to discuss the five reports together in one session and each report has to be discussed threadbare and that too separately,” said V.P. Chandran, one of the LDF leaders in the council.
Auditors have identified several lacunae in the functioning of the civic body in these reports and listed out the losses suffered by the corporation. They have also recommended to recover the losses from the officials concerned besides prohibiting the payment of funds for a large number of ill-implemented projects. If the liability of each erring official is not fixed and suitable action taken, the financial burden of such works would be shifted to the shoulders of corporation councillors. The councillors will eventually be made to compensate the loss caused by the officials, according to Mr. Chandran.
“The Opposition councillors will attend the session and record their dissent on the manner in which the reports are discussed. The LDF has taken up the issue with the State government and the authorities concerned,” he said.
Mayor’s stance
Responding to the charges, Mayor Soumini Jain said the Corporation had the statutory obligation to place the audit reports before the council and not much time was left for the present regime in office. As the reports were of same nature, they were put together for discussion, she said.
The reasons for considering the audit reports together would be explained at the council meeting, she said.