KOCHI: Barely 24 hours after Mayor Soumini Jain junked her much-touted waste transportation plan, Corporation secretary A S Anooja on Wednesday hinted the Mayor committed ‘procedural lapses’ while taking the decision.
Anooja’s response came when she was asked to explain the decision to nix the contract signed with the two contractors for transporting plastic and biodegradable waste from the city to the civic body’s waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram.
She said though the decision was taken at the joint party meeting it did not come up before the council.
“The decision taken at the all-party meeting should have been listed as an agenda in the council or else it can’t be validated,” Anooja told the council.
Besides, Anooja said no notice had been served on the contractors regarding cancelling the agreement with the Corporation.
“Before announcing such a move the Corporation should have been given a chance to the contractors to express their views but nothing happened. The decision to cancel the contracts should have been taken only after hearing their version. With this decision (to cancel the contracts), the contractors can easily obtain a stay from the courts,” she said.
However, the Mayor later decided to convene an urgent meeting of the council on Thursday to discuss the procedures. However,Jain’s version of the decision led to loud protests from the Opposition. The Mayor said her decision to scrap the contract was taken at the all-party meeting.
“It was during the council session on Tuesday the decision to convene the all-party meeting was announced but the Opposition kept off it,” Jain said, defending her decision.
Leader of Opposition K J Antony said the Mayor was behaving like an autocrat while taking council decisions.