'St Aloysius Road' sans legal sanctity, say BJP corporators in Mangaluru

In what may further elude the solution for the simmering row over renaming ‘St Aloysius Road’ in the city, it has now emerged that the very name is bereft of legal sanctity.

St Aloysius Educational institutions have claimed that St Aloysius Road is the actual name of Lighthouse Hill Road, situated between Dr B R Ambedkar Circle (Jyothi Circle) and Catholic Club junction at Hampankatta.

BJP Corporator M Ganesh Hosabettu claimed on Wednesday that the proposal to rename the road as Mulki Sundarama Shetty Road was approved in the council meeting held on February 24, 2015. As is the procedure, objections were invited by publishing the notification in two prominent Kannada dailies on December 22, 2015. When no objection was received within 30 days of issuing the notification, the proposal was invariably ratified.

The police commissioner’s office submitted a report on January 10, 2017, stating that there would be no law and order problem by naming the road after Shetty. The state government, however, recently ordered to stay the decision of the Council on July 1, following a recommendation by Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo.

The government move does not augur well. It is nothing but an insult to the council, said Hosabettu and demanded that Mayor Kavitha Sanil intervene in this regard, to uphold the reputation of the local body.

BJP Corporator Premanand Shetty showed a set of documents that included the notification seeking objections published in newspapers and also a missive from the deputy commissioner’s office to the MCC commissioner. The deputy commissioner’s letter, dated May 04, had sought clarifications on two points: what the previous name of the road was and whether MCC had named the road earlier.

In his reply on May 25, the MCC commissioner has stated that the road was generally called by the name Lighthouse Hill Road and the MCC had not named the road earlier.

Reacting to a query whether the name ‘St Aloysius Road’ was legal, Shetty replied in the negative, stating that it does not have any legal sanctity, according to the records assessed in the Corporation.

The subject was also brought to the notice of the Council, following a demand from the Vijaya Bank Workers’ Organisation, he added.

Sudheer Shetty Kavur, the sitting BJP Corporator who was the Opposition leader in Council when the proposal was resolved in toto, said the local Corporator too had not raised his objection.

Strangely, Shetty said, when the local legislators are permanent invitees to the council meetings by virtue of their being members of the Legislative Assembly, Lobo had not attended the Council meeting that day.