In a major development, the State Cabinet on Friday decided to supersede Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to avoid conducting polls to the civic body in the near future.
According to sources, a notification superseding the BBMP and appointment of an administrator will be issued on Saturday.
The term of the BBMP Council ends on April 22. If the State government supersedes the council before the end of the term, it gets six months’ time to hold elections to the civic body.
The government has already made its intention clear that it is keen on dissolving the BBMP and replacing it with three corporations.
The Rajendra Kataria Committee report on various financial and administrative irregularities in the BBMP during the present council’s term from 2010 to 2015 will be used as a weapon to supersede the civic body, sources added.
Kataria recently submitted a report listing irregularities in floating of tenders, execution of civil works and failure to generate revenue through hoardings in the BBMP ruled by the BJP.
The BBMP issue was discussed extensively at the State Cabinet meeting and later at a dinner hosted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for ministers and Congress legislators.
At the same time, the Cabinet also approved an amendment bill to constitute three new corporations replacing the BBMP. The Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2014, will be tabled at the one-day special session of the state legislature on Monday.
The government decided to summon the special session as its move to promulgate an ordinance in this regard backfired. Governor Vajubhai Vala had sent back the ordinance stating that he was not satisfied with it. The division bench of the Karnataka High Court, too, refused to stay a single bench order to conduct the elections before May 30.
The State government claims that the trifurcation of the BBMP is necessary to deliver better services to the citizens while the BJP and the JD(S) oppose the move, stating that it is a ploy to postpone polls.