Chandigarh administrator’s advisory council set to be reconstituted

The Chandigarh administration will be reconstituting the administrator’s advisory council by March end. It has called the last meeting of the outgoing council on February 22.

The extended tenure of the current council ends on March 31. The original tenure ended on August 5 last year, but in one of his last decisions as the UT administrator, VPS Badnore had extended its tenure by another six months.

“While some of the existing members will be retained, new faces will be inducted in the council. Some of the new members have been suggested to the UT administrator, and he will take the final call,” said a senior UT official.

In its February 22 meeting, the main agenda will be the confirmation of minutes of the previous meeting. The action taken report on decisions taken in the meeting held in February 2021 will also be presented, and chairpersons of the 10 standing committees of the council will make remarks on working of their respective panels.

Headed by the UT administrator, the council is responsible for advising the administration on development issues and policy matters affecting the city, and gives a platform to residents to air their views on a range of issues concerning the city.

There are 60 members in the council in addition to senior UT officials. They include the current and former members of Parliament, mayor, resident and business associations’ representatives, and other prominent citizens. It also has 10 standing committees, which are subject-matter-related groups headed by a chairman.

The apex advisory body of the administration last met in October last year. In its two-year tenure, the council proved largely inconsequential in the delivery of any crucial decisions or resolving long-standing issues of the city, though, in the later part of the current council, the administration made an attempt to give it more teeth.

Reformed working

After his first meeting as the chairman of the council, UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit last year had directed several reforms in the working of the council.

For long, members of the council derided the ineffectiveness of the council and unresponsiveness of the administration to their suggestions. In Badnore’s last advisory council meeting, some members had demanded that the administration should regularly submit action taken reports.

It was also suggested to break up the advisory council meeting into smaller groups to make it manageable. The effectiveness of its committees has also come under question from within and without the council.

After Purohit took over as the administrator, the issue of the council’s effectiveness again came up in the first introductory meet on September 2. The administrator had assured that steps will be taken to streamline its working, including submission of action taken reports.

Thereafter, the special advisory council meeting in October last year was convened to assess only the implementation progress of the recommendations or decisions of the committees.