Mira Bhayander: Bribe charges block promotions of tainted MBMC officials

Despite the presence of senior officials in various departments of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) none of them can qualify for the deputy municipal commissioner’s (DMC’s) post, especially due to a stigmatic reason. As per the rules related to the organisational composition of the civic body, services of not more than four DMC’s can be availed at a time. Out of this two DMC’s have to be of regular civic cadre while the state has to provide the remaining three on deputation to the corporation.

However, here in the MBMC all four serving DMC’s including- Sanjay Shinde, Maruti Gaikwad, Ravi Pawar and Ajit Muthe-have been deputed by the state government. On the other hand most of the civic officials who can qualify for the post on the virtue of their seniority in terms of work experience, are either under the scanner of investigations for their alleged involvement in bribery cases, leaving aside a few unfortunate ones who are still awaiting a final nod of approval from the state government to authenticate their deemed promotions to their existing positions as assistant municipal commissioner. This was revealed by civic chief- Dilip Dhole in an all party meeting of group heads chaired by Mayor- Jyotsna Hasnale.

The tainted officials seeking promotion will now have to wait for a clean chit/ acquittal from the court of law. Notably, almost all these tainted officers had been caught red-handed by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) while accepting bribes to shelter illegal constructions in the twin-city during their stint as ward officers. Interestingly, the tainted officials have managed to retain their creamy and executive positions as ward officers which is in sharp contrast to guidelines which allow only non-executive postings till they are under the scanner of investigations.

The matter had rocked in the monthly general body of the MBMC which was held on the online platform on 25, January.