The State Urban Development Department has made it clear that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor have the right to continue in office for one full year from the date of their election and curtailing their tenure will be treated as discrimination and also violation of their fundamental rights.
Mayor B S Sathyanarayana from BJP and his deputy N Indira from Congress will continue to hold their posts till September this year, Secretary to the Urban Development Department stated in his reply to clarifications sought in that regard by BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana. “There was no notification or other information published indicating a lesser period or tenure for the two elected candidates,” it stated.
The letter also stated that the Mayor and Deputy shall hold the office for one year and even after that they will continue to hold the posts till their successors are elected. “The sub section (2) of section 10 of Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act clearly states that the period of office of Mayor and Deputy shall be one year from the date of election and not one year from the date of the first meeting,” he said. Cutting short the tenure of the present incumbents to give one full year to a future Mayor amounts to discrimination, the department said.