Opposition ward councillors boycotted proceedings at the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) board's last meeting this year, on Tuesday, following differences over the deputy mayor's post.

A letter issued on Tuesday evening by the state law department said Roop Narayan Mehta would remain deputy mayor, but Amravati Devi was found occupying the chair in question at the meeting earlier in the day. This was the cause for discontent. Fuming over the issue, 31 ward- councillors boycotted the meeting.

"Mayor Afzal Imam is acting in a completely anarchical manner. Despite an urban development department directive saying that Roop Narayan would remain deputy mayor, he made Amravati Devi attend today's meeting in that capacity. We gave a memorandum in this regard to the mayor and left the meeting," said former deputy mayor Vinay Kumar 'Pappu', who supports Roop Narayan.

Amravati was elected deputy mayor after Roop Narayan was removed from the said post through an order issued by the urban development and housing department on October 30. He was removed on the charge of frequently abstaining himself from civic body meetings.

But Roop Narayan went to Patna High Court, which quashed the order for his removal. Later, Amravati, too, moved the high court, staking her claim on the post of deputy mayor. Confusion emerged over who the rightful claimant to the post was after the court recently issued a status quo order on this matter. Both Amravati and Roop Narayan were staking claim to the post in light of the status quo order.

"As no clear-cut instructions had come till yesterday, we assumed Amravati was the rightful claimant to the post and so she was asked to attend the meeting in that capacity. However, now things have become clear following the letter from the department and Roop Narayan would continue as deputy mayor," Imam said.

Though Roop Narayan and his supporters boycotted the proceedings, mayor Imam conducted the meeting in the presence of 27 councillors who attended. "Deliberations were held on selection of agencies to procure sanitation equipment and for door-to-door waste collection under the Patna solid waste management project. All ward-councillors present at the meeting gave their consent to take the project to the next level," said Imam.

Roop Narayan termed the proceedings "illegitimate". He said: "Mayor Imam held the meeting even though the minimum required number of ward-councillors were not there. Only his supporters participated in the meeting, the rest boycotted. The outcome of such a meeting cannot be considered legitimate."

The solid waste management project, under the centrally-sponsored Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), is stuck in a limbo for the past seven years. PMC is faced with dearth of sanitation equipment to cart away garbage from the city streets as a result of delay in this project.

The state urban development and housing department had in January 2008 released funds to the tune of Rs 23.09 crore for this project. This includes one-fourth of the central government's total share, amounting to Rs. 4.62 crore, and the state government's total share of Rs 18.47 crore.

Sanitation equipment apart, several attempts to execute door-to-door waste-collection schemes in the past two years could not materialise. Though the PMC board had given its approval for door-to-door waste-collection in September, 2014, it is still to be seen being executed on the ground.