(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Mayors preside over meetings of the elected officials of the civic body.Mayors in Indian cities unlike in many other countries occupy largely ceremonial posts. In Mumbai the mayor may be the head of the civic body but in reality has very little powers. The real power behind the mayoral throne is that of the municipal commissioner who is an IAS officer and appointed by the state government.
Mayors preside over meetings of the elected officials of the civic body. However among elected officials the real clout is wielded by chairpersons of powerful bodies such as the standing committee and the improvements committee which handle billions of rupees worth of contracts.
But the advantage of occupying the largely ceremonial mayoral position is that it enables the ‘first citizen’ of Mumbai to occupy a sprawling bungalow facing the sea at Shivaji Park and move around the metropolis in a luxury car sporting a red beacon and receiving foreign dignitaries and national leaders at airports.
Last December though the Supreme Court had banned the use of red beacons (with or without flashers) by all and sundry restricting its use to only high dignitaries including the president the prime minister and the chief justice of India. In April the Maharashtra government came out with an official resolution restricting the use of red beacons to the governor the chief minister and deputy chief minister and a few other dignitaries.
Mayors of cities across Maharashtra were barred from using the red beacons on their cars but Sunil Prabhu (Shiv Sena) the then mayor defied the government and continued to use it. Last week another Shiv Sena corporator Snehal Ambekar was appointed mayor — the mayoral tenure is for two-and-a-half years — and she too opposed the government diktat and continued using the red beacon on her official car.
Ambekar 42 a first-time corporator — and the fourth woman mayor of the metropolis — argues that as head of the civic body she is entitled to use the beacon. Initially she equated the mayor’s position to that of the CM. She later downgraded herself saying her post was equivalent to that of a state minister.
But Ambekar had no answer when told that even the CM does not use the red beacon on his car. She argues that she represents “Asia’s richest civic body” and should be allowed to use the status symbol on her car. Of course while Mumbai could arguably be the richest city in Asia — the Bombay Municipal Corporation has a budget of nearly Rs320 billion — it is undoubtedly one of the worst managed civic body in the world and which has been run to seed by its greedy politicians.
Ambekar also posted on her Facebook page asking citizens for their opinion on the matter and whether she should continue using the beacon. She also promised to consult senior leaders in her party as she did not want to be in contempt of the apex court.
Devendra Amberkar a Congress corporator and the leader of the opposition in the BMC has threatened to move the apex court against the mayor for blatantly defying its orders.
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