Mangaluru: Following a direction from the high court, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has initiated the process of appointing members for ward committees in 60 wards.
As per the mandate of the Constitution, the MCC has to form ward committees in each ward, under the chairmanship of the respective ward corporators. Hence, applications for the ward committees are invited by the city corporation, said MCC commissioner Akshy Sridhar.
As per the directions of the government, the city corporation must nominate 10 members, including one representative each from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, three women, two representatives from civic groups and three from the general category for the ward committees, in each of the 60 wards in the city limits. The city corporation will accept applications from the public to take part in the ward committees of their respective wards. Applications will be accepted at the three zonal offices at Surathkal, Central and Kadri till November 17.
Applicants must furnish details including name, date of birth, address, ward number, Aadhaar number, caste, category, educational qualification and their area of interest or experience, along with the application form. Applicants must declare that there are no pending criminal cases against them. They also must declare that they are neither members of any political party nor have any political affiliations that will bias their decisions, the commissioner stated in a release.
The MCC has been expediting the process to form committees as per the high court’s direction. The 74th Constitutional amendment and the amendment of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act in 2011 mandates formation of ward committees and area sabhas in city corporations. Further, the high court, while hearing a petition, also had ordered the formation of ward committees and area sabhas in Mangaluru.
An agenda to form ward committees was presented at the council meeting of the MCC on August 28, 2014, and a special meet was held in this regard on October 29, 2014. It was again passed unanimously at a council meeting on August 13.