BENGALURU: With the term of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) council ending on Thursday, the State Government has appointed senior IAS officer Gaurav Gupta as administrator. This is the third time the BBMP has come under an administrator ever since it was formed in 2007. Gupta, a 1990 batch IAS officer, who is also Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce), will hold concurrent charge for now.
Deputy CM Dr C N Ashwath Narayana reasoned that since the councillors’ term has ended and fresh elections are some time away, the civic body will need an administrator, specially at a time when the city is experiencing rain havoc. Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh told TNIE that the process of conducting the council election is on, but due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation, it is difficult to do so. Also, a separate Act for the governance of Bengaluru is being planned and all these will require some time before elections can be held, he said.
In 2015, the present Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar had served as BBMP administrator before the council elections were held. The ward reservation was announced in April and election notification was issued in August that year. Results were declared on August 25, and the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were elected in September. Under Section 315 of Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, an administrator can be appointed in the absence of a full-fledged council.