As the Bharatiya Janata Party councillors joined the anti-corruption protest by their party at Jantar Mantar, the standing committee meeting of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Wednesday was cancelled due to the lack of a quorum.
This is for the first time in the history of the civic body that the meeting of its most high-powered committee was cancelled for want of minimum number of members.
The standing committee has 12 members and presence of at least five members, including the chairman is a must to complete the quorum. Only four members, including the leader of opposition were present for the meeting.
While the opposition accused the ruling party of being ‘not serious’ in conducting the business of the corporation, the ruling party leaders said cancellation of the meeting will not affect the business ‘as items listed for the meeting were not very important’.
“Most of the councillors were attending the protest held by the BJP at Jantar Mantar. They could not reach the meeting as they courted arrest. The meeting was cancelled with consent of the leader of opposition as the quorum was not complete,” said Yogendra Chandolia, chairman of the standing committee.
“Only three items were listed for the meeting which are not very important. Moreover, no discussion over any policy decision was listed for the day. The agenda will be taken up in the next meeting on Wednesday,” said deputy chairman V P Pandey.
However, the opposition accused the ruling party of not being serious in conducting the business of the civic body.
“They knew in advance about their party programme as well as the timing of the standing committee meeting. Earlier they postponed the meeting by 15 minutes. Later the chairman cancelled it. If the party function was more important they could have extended the meeting by a day. They could have at least save the precious time of the official who came all the way from their offices to attend the meeting,” said leader of opposition Mukesh Goel.
Interestingly, the House meeting of the South Corporation – which requires a much higher number to complete the quorum – was convened during the same time at the Civic Centre successfully. This despite the fact that most of the ruling party members of the civic body attended the party’s protest at Jantar Mantar.
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