Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte's decision to demote Zone III deputy municipal commissioner Ramesh Pawar following a Supreme Court ruling has ruffled quite a few feathers.
And the BMC is contemplating creating a separate post for Pawar after corporators and activists objected to the civic administration's decision to demote him as assistant municipal commissioner.
There was ruckus on the issue at the standing committee meeting on Tuesday leading to a top-level meeting among Mayor Sunil Prabhu, leader of house Trushna Vishwasrao, civic chief Sitaram Kunte and additional municipal commissioner (city) Mohan Adtani.
At Tuesday's meeting, leader of opposition Devendra Amberkar had threatened to bring in a no-confidence motion against Kunte, and it was backed by ruling Sena-BJP leaders.
According to Mayor Prabhu, the proposal to create a separate position of DMC was put before Kunte, and it will also be placed before the law committee and the house.
"It is demotivating for an employee to be demoted like this. Taking that into consideration, we have asked him not to demote Pawar, but create an alternative post for him," Prabhu said.
"Kunte told us that when Pawar was promoted, he had been informed that any further decision on his appointment would be determined by the Supreme Court ruling," Prabhu said, adding that the suggestion should work out.
In BMC, 75% of DMC posts are filled in by AMCs, while 25% are supposed to be filled by promoting HODs, direct recruitment or by deputation.
Ram Dhas, who was holding the post of HOD, appealed to the Supreme Court after he was not appointed the DMC for not having the required 10 years experience as per the old rules. The new rules reduced the experience required to seven years. As the order favours him, he would now be appointed the DMC in place of Pawar, who has been asked to step down.
Citizens irked
Surindra Khubchandani, member, H-West Federation, said the decision on Pawar had shocked him. "Please ask us and we will provide a list of officers you should demote. DMC Ramesh Pawar deserves to be promoted. He's sincere and efficient and does justice to his post. He should be reinstated."
Expressing their angst, activists in the area have written to the municipal commissioner seeking clarification on the matter.
Aftab Siddique of 33rd Road, Khar ALM-144 along with several other citizens groups disapproved of Pawar's abrupt transfer. "I was shocked to learn that the MC had asked DMC Pawar to step back to make way for chief accountant Ram Dhas following a Supreme Court ruling," said Siddique.
She said H-West had been orphaned and they had lost a good administrator. "Why was he promoted in the first place if you knew it could end up like this? Such moves not only demoralise good officers but also the citizens. In the last seven years, H-West has seen seven DMCs (Vikram Pawar, Arvind Hire (twice), Sudhir Naik, Kiran Achrekar and Ramesh Pawar. And a new one is to take charge now," Siddique added.
Anandini Thakoor, chairperson, H-West Federation, said: "Such decisions should be implemented gracefully. There has to be merit based promotions."
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