The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will seek clarification from the state municipal affairs department on who can be authorised to sign certificates that were previously issued by councillors, a senior civic official said on Wednesday.
The state government dissolved the KMC board on Monday, three days after Firhad Hakim resigned as the KMC mayor. With the board’s dissolution, the mayoral council and all councillors ceased to hold office. The state government has appointed municipal commissioner Smita Pandey as the administrator of KMC.
Councillors routinely issued residence and income certificates, the latter often required to establish a family’s monthly earnings. Residents from economically weaker sections also approached councillors for recommendations to obtain concessions on medical expenses.
Sources said it would be impractical to expect the administrator alone to handle the volume of certificates signed by 144 councillors across the city. They added that ordinary residents would find it difficult to approach the administrator directly for such documents.
“We will soon write to the municipal affairs department seeking clarification on who could be delegated the power to sign the certificates,” said a senior KMC official.
Besides KMC, the state government also dissolved the board of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation on Saturday and appointed Ravi Agarwal, the civic body’s commissioner, as the administrator. The civic body had 41 councillors. The board was dissolved after Krishna Chakraborty resigned as mayor on Thursday.
Sources in the state government said the boards of more than 10 other municipalities and municipal corporations run by the Trinamool Congress have also been dissolved following the resignation of councillors, chairpersons and mayors.
The wave of resignations began after the party’s poor performance in the Assembly elections. The state government has since appointed officials as administrators to run the civic bodies.
With the monsoon around the corner, questions remain about how effectively these civic bodies, particularly those in smaller towns and cities, will function under administrative control.
“We will work out a plan soon. We are aware of the challenges regarding the signing of certificates after councillors ceased to hold office,” a state government official said.
“The authority to sign certificates that earlier rested with councillors will have to be delegated to someone at the ward or borough level. Identifying the appropriate official for the role is something that still needs to be worked out,” the official added.