Three councillors in Thrikkakara municipality disqualified

CPI(M)’s Usha Praveen and Suni Kailasan and Congress’ Rajani Jeejan reportedly missed meetings of welfare, finance and education standing committees respectively for more than three consecutive months

Three councillors of the Thrikkakara municipality stand disqualified on grounds of not having attended their respective standing committee meetings for three consecutive months or more.

The disqualified councillors are the CPI(M)’s Usha Praveen and Suni Kailasan and the Congress’ Rajani Jeejan. They reportedly missed the meetings of welfare, finance and education standing committees respectively for more than three consecutive months. Municipal secretary T.K. Santhosh handed over communications in this regard to the councillors on Friday (December 13).

Section 93(2) of the Kerala Municipality Act says that where a person ceases to be a councillor, the secretary shall at once intimate the fact in writing to such person and report the same to the council, at its next meeting.

The latest spate of disqualification takes the number of such councillors in the municipality to four in less than a fortnight. Congress councillor and former municipal chairperson Ajitha Thankappan was the first to be disqualified as councillor for having missed meetings of the education standing committee for three consecutive months, on December 4. She had since then applied to the council for her restoration, which took place in rocky circumstances in the face of stiff protest by the Opposition Left Democratic Front earlier this week.

A local body member runs the risk of disqualification for unauthorised absence under the Kerala Municipality Act Section 91 (k) (absence without the permission of the municipality concerned from the meetings of the council or the standing committee, as the case may be, for a period of three consecutive months).

Two other councillors, K.X. Simon of the CPI and Laly Jophin of the Congress, who had also stayed away from the meetings of the health standing committee beyond the permissible period of three months were found to have applied for leave, which was sanctioned by the council.

A disqualified councillor can be restored subject to the approval of the council for once during his/her term.

Published - December 14, 2024 01:42 am IST