Govt to conduct inquiry against Pune municipal commissioner

Maharashtra government will conduct an inquiry against Pune municipal commissioner for flouting state's order to allow the Pune education board to continue to function, Education minister Vinod Tawde said today.
Tawde said the actions of commissioner Kunal Kumar, a 1999-batch IAS officer, had undermined the importance of elected representatives.
After the Right to Education Act came into force, the education boards were to be dissolved. However, the government had decided that the boards would continue till the end of their respective terms.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Tawde said along with Pune, education boards in all municipal corporations would continue to function till the completion of terms.

The issue was raised by BJP MLA Medha Kulkarni through a calling attention notice.
She pointed out that even the Bombay High Court had held in August 2014 that the Pune education board can function without any interference till the end of its tenure and the Pune municipal corporation had passed a similar resolution.
The state government had written to the commissioner twice on the issue this year. Despite this, Kumar took away the board's powers, which affected functioning of municipal schools, decisions on scholarships, and the number of drop- outs was also increasing, Kulkarni said.
She demanded that the powers of the Pune education board be restored and action taken against the commissioner. Tawde said the government would take these steps.