The Calcutta High Court onTuesday ordered that a board of administrators headed by mayor Firhad Hakim will act as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's (KMC) caretaker board till July 20.A division bench comprising Justices I P Mukerji and T Ghosh extended the term of the caretaker board till July 20.A single bench had on May 7 directed that the board of administrators, which was appointed by the West Bengal government following completion of its five-year term, would function for four weeks.In an interim order on May 7, Justice Subrata Talukdar had directed that in order to ensure that the functions of the KMC were carried out smoothly during the extraordinary situation arising out of the coronavirus breakout, the caretaker board would look after its day-to-day operations for a month.Challenging the order, petitioner Sharad Kumar Singh had moved the division bench.The writ petition challenged a notification by the state government to appoint city mayor Firhad Hakim as the chairperson of the board of administrators of the KMC.The government had appointed the board since elections to KMC could not be held owing to the coronavirus outbreak.The petition claimed that as per the Constitution of India, no elected member can continue in office for more than the stipulated period of five years and so Hakim's appointment was illegal.The petition also claimed that the West Bengal government had on May 6 illegally appointed members of the outgoing mayor-in-council and mayor of the KMC as the members and chairperson of the board of administrators of the KMC respectively.Seeking quashing of the notification, the petitioner claimed that there was no provision for appointment of administrator in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act.
