HC imposes Rs one lakh fine on BMC corporator

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on a corporator of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for "wasting" the civic body's time by filing an incomplete petition. On Tuesday, when the petition came up for hearing, Shirsat's lawyer Amogh Singh sought time to amend the petition to challenge the rule the BMC had relied on while disqualifying Shirsat.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on a corporator of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for "wasting" the civic body's time by filing an incomplete petition. BMC corporator Bhalchandra Shirsat has moved the court against his disqualification from the Standing Committee of the corporation.

A division bench headed by Justice S J Kathawalla directed Shirsat to pay the fine amount to the BMC and said only after the amount has been paid his petition would be heard. Shirsat failed to challenge the Standing Committee's rules in his plea, and thus "wasted the BMC's time", the court said.

The HC continued the interim relief granted in November whereby Shirsat was allowed to continue as a member of the Standing Committee, and posted the petition for hearing on Wednesday. On Tuesday, when the petition came up for hearing, Shirsat's lawyer Amogh Singh sought time to amend the petition to challenge the rule the BMC had relied on while disqualifying Shirsat. As per the rule, a member of the Standing Committee has to be an elected member and not a nominated one.

The bench then sought to know why this was not done earlier, and imposed a fine. Shirsat was disqualified from the Standing Committee by the chairman and Shiv Sena leader Yashwant Jadhav on October 21.