KOCHI: Kochi Mayor Soumini Jain on Thursday decided to remove the name of District Collector M G Rajamanickam from the list of Mayors' names displayed in the Mayor's cabin.
The decision to remove the Collector's name, along with the names of engineer K S Sasikumar and former Corporation Secretary V R Raju, from the list came after Welfare Standing Committee chairperson A B Sabu raised objection in the council.
"An instruction has been issued to remove the name of the District Collector," said the Mayor while answering questions of reporters. The administrative committee was in charge of the office from October 31 to November 18.
Sabu stated that the government order termed the Collector as a member of the administrative committee until the new Mayor assumed office, and that the Collector was not assigned the charge of Mayor.
"There are many IAS officers whose names found a place in the list, as all of them were appointed by the government as 'Mayor in Charge'. But, in this case, the government has appointed an administrative committee that included the Collector, secretary and the engineer. So, there is no need to put their names in the list," said Sabu, and alleged that the bureaucrats were trying to intrude into the affairs of the Corporation in order to gain credit.
Meanwhile, Rajamanickam was unavailable to comment on the issue.