Municipal Council Anantnag: ugly fight between President and Executive Officer escalates

Saahil Suhail

Early Times Report

Anantnag, May 14: The on-going ugly fight between President and Executive Officer of Municipal Council Anantnag escalated after newly elected councilors accused later of hatching conspiracy against elected body.

They also sought his removal by saying that he (Executive Officers) and other senior officers in bureaucracy were defeating Governor’s aim of ‘strengthening democracy at grass root’.

Hilal Ahmad Shah, State Congress General Secretary and President Municipal Council Anantnag alleged that in last four to five weeks, since the Parliament Election scheduled was announced, he observed that the Officers of Municipal Council Anantnag, District Administration and at Provincial level started unnecessarily interference in the functioning of the council and used various means to undermine the authority of the council in general and the elected President in particular.

“These officers are regularly in connivance with each other not only for showing disrespect to the state laws under which functioning of council has been defined but are also sabotaging the efforts of Hon’ble Governor and the Chief Secretary with whose efforts the electoral process was taken up and completed despite odds,” Shah said in a press statement.

Shah called Anantnag Municipal Council Executive Officer ‘corrupt’ and said that was working under a well-designed conspiracy to stall the development oriented initiatives of elected representatives of the council.

“It seems that the selection of Sh Mohuddin (EO MC-Anantnag) to look after the affairs of the Anantnag Municipal Council is with a specific purpose to letdown the image of the elected body before the public.” he said, adding that the administration and the officers could not digest the steps taken by President for the benefit of the people and started interfering unnecessarily and posted an officer Sh Mohuddin as Executive Officer who had dubious past service record.

The President accused his Executive Officer of being involved in multiple scams including molestation, backdoor appointments and other financial frauds and said such officers should be shown door without any delay.

The ugly war within Municipal Council Anantnag has snowballed into a huge controversy with all parties involved uncovering the filth and muck the council has been drenched in for past many years. So far two enquiries have been initiated into alleged irregularities that came to fore in MC Anantnag due to this tussle.