Amid the controversy surrounding the table agenda worth ₹ 227 crore being passed without discussion in the previous MC House meeting on July 31 resulting in backlash by the opposition and also BJP councillors, the minutes of this particular House meeting released on Tuesday indicate as many as nine table agendas were passed without the requisite quorum of councillors required to be present in the House.
A table agenda is an extra topic or document handed to meeting participants right at the meeting table, without any advance notice or prior sharing. 16 table agendas were brought into the House in the last hour, according to the minutes of the meeting.
In an apparent violation of rules, the mayor then said that all table agendas could thus be passed in anticipation by the House. Secretary MC had pointed out during discussion of the sixth table agenda that the quorum of the House was incomplete, according to the minutes released on Tuesday.
“We had ensured that the quorum was complete when the table agendas were passed, there is no doubt about that. A day after the House meeting, BJP councillors as well as those of the Opposition AAP and Congress raised a hue and cry about how the table agendas were passed without discussion with the particular agenda item number 13 costing ₹ 227 crores -one third of the entire budget of the corporation- being brought in at the last moment.
When contacted, a senior MC official denied that the quorum was not complete and said that if the minutes reflect that the quorum was not complete, then a correction will be made. If minutes reflect otherwise, we will get those corrected,” said an MC official. “I did join online, but was not aware of what was happening,” said Rana. When contacted, BJP councillor Kanwarjeet Rana said he had left the House early for some personal work and was provided with a link to join online, which he did but he was not aware of what was being discussed. “I merely joined for four to five minutes online and was not aware of the agendas,” he said.
