Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Oct 2: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has concluded that the mayors of Karnataka cities are relatively weak when compared to leading cities from other states.

An assessment of administrative management, freedom to take decisions, opportunity to assert their power etc from different angles has made the CAG to conclude that mayors and deputy mayors of city corporations in Karnataka as well as presidents and vice presidents of municipalities have mostly remained as just showpieces.

In the case of mayors and deputy mayors of city corporations in Karnataka, their term is one year from the date of election while in the case of urban local bodies of other states the same is 30 months from the date of election. This influences the administrative machinery, the CAG has observed.

"These posts have been reserved for scheduled castes, tribes, backward classes, women and general category which are implemented as per rotation. Therefore, the person occupying the chair has very less chances of bringing any effective reforms within a short span of one year," the report mentions.

With the change of leadership, priorities are likely to change. Many a time, the mayors may feel bad at not being able to witness the projects they have announced getting completed. By the time the decision taken by a mayor is implemented another mayor is replaced who gives importance to his dream project. The people are also aware of this, the CAG report mentions. "Because of this, the ideas of the mayors or presidents never get implemented. Mostly their projects may be stranded halfway. Finally, when the terms of office of mayors are compared mayors of Karnataka cities are on a sticky wicket, the report said.

The Karnataka urban bodies were compared with the ones at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Dehradun, Lucknow, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvanantapuram, Patna, Ludhiana, Ranchi etc. At least in six cities out of 16, election to the mayoral post is held directly. In Kolkata, the mayor also is the chief executive officer. Mayor has to approve all the projects and he has the right to sign and approve bills. The mayors of Kochi and Jaipur also approve the projects and have the power to approve bills by signing them. In Kochi, the mayor also has the powers to suspend officials who are not gazette officers.

Recommendations

CAG has recommended increasing the term of office as short term adversely affects projects. Change of leadership frequently makes the priority projects to be neglected. Mayoral term should be extended at least until he is able to witness the final stages of the pet projects announced by him.