‘Resolutions of meeting not made public’

MADURAI: With no elected representatives in the urban local body, council meetings have been conducted by corporation officials presided by the Corporation Commissioner, every month. However, no resolution has been made public, claim the residents.

Speaking to TNIE, a student preparing for competitive examinations, one K Karthik Kannan, said that he had attended the council meetings, when there were elected representatives in the corporation. "All such meetings became closed for public later, and only officials are making decisions for our city's development. Many important projects, including those under Smart City Mission Programme are being implemented. However, we as residents have no idea about when the decisions are being made," he said. The council resolution and minutes of the meeting, being the only way to know about decisions made by the civic body, are not being made public on the Corporation's website, he said, adding, "As tax payers we have the right to know how our money is being spent."

Responding to the complaints, Council Secretary (in-charge) M Rajkumar told TNIE that the civic body has not been taking minutes of council meetings since the tenure of elected representatives completed back in 2016, and that the council resolution would be made available for public on the corporation's website only after a month of conducting the meeting as 'they have a practice of back dating certain documents.'