Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 3: The tenure of the city mayor for the second term of the BJP rule, which ended on Wednesday, has been extended because of legal issues involved therein. The tenure of current mayor, Premananda Shetty, has been extended till further orders in this connection from the government.

With this, only for the second time in the history of this city corporation, the tenure of office of the mayor has been extended beyond the normal one year period. It is said that the terms of the deputy mayor and standing committees will also be extended likewise.

In the past, in the year 2005, the tenure of the then city mayor Ashraf, which was to end on July 25, 2006, was extended by three months because of legal reasons.

City corporation commissioner, Akshy Sridhar, clarified that there is provision for the continuance of the existing mayor and deputy mayor till the next mayor and deputy mayor assume office. He said that advice of the government will be sought on this issue.

In connection with another case, Rahul Ramesh from Maharashtra had filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the issue of reservation criteria pertaining to local bodies and the Supreme Court has issued orders with reference to reservation criteria. Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner had written to the department of urban development seeking clarification whether that order will affect the elections scheduled on March 2 for the posts of the mayor, deputy mayor and four standing committees. There is no response from the secretary in the urban development department. Therefore the election has been postponed.

The extension of the period of the mayor will effectively cut short the tenure of the last mayor in the current five-year period.