The confusion over the suspension of PMC commissioner Kuldip Narayan and the reluctance of mayor Afzal Imam to accept the former in the constitutional post seem to have paralysed the functioning of the civic body.

Not a single meeting of the board and the empowered standing committee of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been conducted over the past two months. The two bodies approve plans for work to be carried out by the civic body.

While the last two meetings of the PMC board scheduled on November 29 and December 11 last year had to be cancelled, its next meeting slated for January 31 in all likelihood would meet the same fate.

Reason: Instead of asking the commissioner to issue a formal notice for conducting the meeting, Imam wrote a letter in this regard to additional municipal commissioner (sanitation and planning) Shrisat Kapil Ashok on January 20.

'I don't consider Narayan as the commissioner that is the reason I asked the additional municipal commissioner to hold the meeting. The state government has suspended Narayan and an official notification for the same has also been issued. Though Patna High Court has put a stay on his suspension, the final order is yet to come. Technically, Narayan is not the commissioner and he is illegally sitting here (PMC),' said Imam.

Driving his point further, the mayor added that Shrisat was appointed the municipal commissioner through a notification dated December 15, 2014. The mayor is authorised to call a meeting of the PMC board, for which he is required to inform the commissioner to make arrangements. While the mayor is not coordinating with Narayan, ward councillors claimed all development works in the city have been stalled because board meetings are not being conducted.

'The meeting of the board is the only platform through which the ward councillors put forth their demands for different kinds of work to be carried out in their wards. It is from here that the required work is approved for execution and the officers work on it. Since the meeting is not being conducted for the past two months, no new work is being initiated,' said Sanjay Kumar Singh, the councillor of ward number-1.

The Telegraph in its Thursday's edition highlighted that chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi apparently signed an order for revoking Narayan's suspension on January 20. The related documents are in the possession of The Telegraph.

The notification on the CM's order has, however, not been issued till date. Imam through a letter dated December 20, 2014, to minister of urban development and housing department Samrat Choudhary had sought guidelines on which officer to inform for making the required arrangement for the meeting. Samrat refused to comment on the issue.

Through another letter dated December 30, 2014, Imam had sought guidelines on the same matter from B. Rajender, the secretary at urban development and housing department. 'I did not receive any reply either from the minister or the secretary of the department with regard to the guidelines sought by me,' said Imam.

Narayan through a letter dated December 16, 2014, to Rajender with a copy to principal secretary at general administration department had stated that he was holding the post of Patna municipal commissioner. He said based on the stay put on his suspension by the high court, neither Shrishat took charge from him nor did Narayan hand over the charge to Shrishat.