Out of the 16 corporators disqualified from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, five have refused to return emoluments and allowances paid to them. The civic body is yet to recover Rs 12 lakh from disqualified corporators. This was revealed by a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by RTI Activist Anil Galgali. Once disqualified, a corporator needs to return the salaries and allowances received in his tenure.
Galgali had inquired about the details and action taken on the ex-corporators who are disqualified but till not paid their dues. BMC has served notice of recovery to Lalji Yadav, Fatima Anjum, Anusha Kondam, Bhavna Jobanputra and Ishaq Shaikh. All these candidates have lost their membership on the grounds of using fake caste certificate, while fighting election from reserved wards. The total sum of recovery from all the five is Rs 11,98,166, Ex-Member Lalji Yadav owes Rs 7,439, Fatima Anjum Rs 45,388, Anusha Kondam Rs 3,20,681, Bhavana Jobanputra Rs 3,65,428 and Ishak Shaikh Rs. 4,59,230.
“The recovery of these dues from former Corporators is the primary responsibility of the BMC Secretary. Instead of waiting for action of the collector, Municipal Secretary office should upload information of these erring ex-members on the BMC’s website and also display them across all their offices in Mumbai. This is public money and if the disqualified corporators received it through wrong means, they should refund it,” said Galgali.
