Three councillors in Thrikkakara Municipality face disqualification

More councillors in Thrikkakara municipality are staring at potential disqualification after missing their respective standing committee meetings for three consecutive months or more.

Congress councillor and former Thrikkakara municipal chairperson Ajitha Thankappan was disqualified as councillor for having missed meetings of the education standing committee for three consecutive months earlier this month. 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.

The CPI(M)’s Usha Praveen and Suni Kailasan and the Congress’ Rajani Jeejan are staring at imminent disqualification after having missed the meetings of the Welfare, Finance and Education standing committees respectively for more than three consecutive months. Municipal secretary T.K. Santhosh will hand over the communications in this regard to the councillors on Friday.

Section 93(2) of the 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.

Reportedly, they had kept away without prior application. 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 subjected to the approval of the council for once during his/her term. Ms. Thankappan was able to make use of this option by formally applying for her restoration within 15 days of intimation of her disqualification by the municipal secretary.

Published - December 12, 2024 08:35 pm IST