Lack of quorum puts Mayor in a spot at Corporation Council meeting; AIADMK objects to passing of resolutions

The Hindu

23-05-2025

In a major embarrassment to Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth, the absence of a majority of her party councillors, including four of the five zone chairpersons, forced her to seek support from the miniscule members present to help pass the resolutions tabled at the monthly council meeting on Friday.
The resolutions, according to the officials, were 'very important' and had to get the stamp of approval from the council which alone would get sanction of funds for laying roads in the city.
The meeting, which started at 10.30 a.m., had less than 25% of the members out of the 100 wards. Normally, the Mayor, after her customary address, would announce the resolutions as unanimously passed following which the five zone chairpersons (all from the DMK) air their grievances, then the AIADMK leader would speak and the others would take turns to express their views.
However, when the Mayor took up the resolutions, AIADMK councillor and leader Solai Raja opposed it stating that it would not be proper to pass the resolution when there was lack of quorum in the House. When the Mayor insisted on taking it up stating it could not be postponed, CPI (M) councillor too supported the AIADMK's view and expressed his concern.
At this juncture, the Mayor had to concede the AIADMK's demand and allowed the meeting to continue with the hope that her party councillors would turn up.
DMK zone chairperson Pandiselvi thanked the civic administration for 'excellent' conduct of the Chitirai festival and the celebrations of Lord Kallazhagar's entry into the Vaigai river.
Mr. Raja said that the Corporation should consider establishing a kabaddi ground in a vacant land measuring about 75 cents in Sellur. He said that in at least 40 ward offices, there were no proper toilets forcing women workers to use restrooms somewhere away.
S.S. Bose (Congress), representing Ward No. 73, thanked Minister P. Moorthy for having taken up very many development works in Madurai West Assembly constituency.
T. Kumaravel (CPI-M) of Ward 23 said the recently laid demand stern action and blacklisting of the contractor who laid the road in Pykara.
Pointing out to Mr. Bose's statement, Mr. Kumaravel said there was an impression that work was happening only in select wards/zones in the city and appealed to the Mayor to earmark funds for all wards as development should not be lopsided.
S. Baskaran (MDMK) of Ward 52 said: 'After removing the dumper bins in West Masi Street, the conservancy workers should have been instructed to collect the garbage from residents. In the absence of bins, how are the residents supposed to dispose garbage,' he asked. If the residents left the garbage on the road, they had to face the wrath of shopkeepers. To this, Corporation Commissioner Chitra Vijayan said that a solution would be found to the problem soon.
Question Hour
Normally, the question hour would take around 120 minutes or even more. However, due to the presence of less than one-third of the councillors, the meeting got over in less than 70 minutes.
The Mayor, at the fag end of the meeting, announced that the resolutions had been passed unanimously after a few more councillors turned up in the House.