Pune corporation to seek legal opinion on code of conduct

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to seek legal advice on implementation of the model code of conduct imposed since September 6 in the city due to by-election to the Khadakwasla assembly constituency.

Political leaders feel there are errors in implementation of the code by the civic administration.

Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal told media persons after a meeting ofleaders of various parties they feel that the civic administration was interpreting and implementing the model code of conduct in a wrong manner. It was decided that the PMC would seek guidance from Election Commission of India (ECI), the state government and seek legal opinion in the matter.

He said due to the model code of conduct, no decision was taken in the meeting of party leaders on Thursday. The next meeting is scheduled on September 14 and by then, legal opinion on the issue is likely to be available.

Chairman of standing committee Ganesh Bidkar told media persons that the PMC had sought a directive from ECI in 2006 about model code of conduct and it was known then that there was no problem in implementing the budget. On Thursday, the administration was asked to refer to the old correspondence in the matter.

He said if the civic body did not implement the development works of Rs1,000 crore in this financial year due to the model code of conduct, it would suffer a loss of Rs400 crore due to increasing prices.

Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said although the by-election is being held in Khadakwasla constituency, the administration has imposed the code in the entire district. This approach of the administration would lead to hurdles in the development works of the city.

He said the civic budget was approved in February and was published in April. Hence, there should not be any problem in implementing the budget during the model code of conduct. The civic body had implemented the recommendations in the budget in 2006 even after imposition of the model code of conduct. The administration should take similar action now.

The by-election is being held due to the demise of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) MLA, Ramesh Wanjale, in June 2011. The voting would be on October 13.