Bombay High Court directed ward meetings not on record, finds Kalina resident

A resident of Kalina was surprised to find that his ward office has no records of the meetings that the High Court had directed to be held regularly to tackle the issue of illegal hoardings.

Clarence Pinto, member, Voice of Kalina, which takes up the area's civic issues, had filed an RTI application to find out about the HC order's implementation.

In its 2014 order, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court (HC) had directed the municipal commissioner and other authorities to form committees to tackle the menace of illegal hoardings. The committees were to hold meetings at regular intervals to review the scheme's implementation, performance of vigilance squads, and to make suggestions. 

The committee, the HC order had said, should have officials from the BMC and police, members of social organisations, elected representatives and representatives of non-government organisations.

Pinto in his application sought details of the committee, members who are part of it, and the minutes of the meeting held. In reply, the public information officer stated that the committee, which was formed in 2014, has 13 members of which nine are government officers for the H/East ward. However, the reply stated that there were no records of the meetings that were held nor of the minutes of the meeting.

Alka Sasane, officer, H/east ward was unavailable for comment.