Kolkata, Jan 13 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Friday set aside the West Bengal government's administrative order appointing an interim chairman to Purulia district's Jhalda Municipality, where the ruling TMC allegedly lost majority, and directed that election to fill the post be held on January 16.

Justice Amrita Sinha ordered that polls be held under the strict supervision of Purulia's district magistrate, but the charge of the municipality will not be handed over to the newly elected chairman without the leave of the court.

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The state government had appointed Jaba Machhowar as interim chairman of Jhalda municipality.

Justice Sinha directed the district magistrate to file a status report in a sealed cover on the next date of hearing on January 17.

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Shila Chatterjee, one of the councillors of the Congress, along with six other councillors, had challenged before the high court an order of the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department of the West Bengal government, vide which the interim chairman was appointed to Jhalda municipality.

The petitioners said that they had moved a no-confidence motion against chairman Suresh Agarwal, following which he was voted out in November 2022.

The vacancy in the office of the chairman was to be filled up by holding an election, but the vice-chairman failed to convene a meeting in this regard within seven days and said that he had resigned from the post, according to the councillors.

The petitioners claimed to have learnt on the evening of December 2 from media reports that the state government invoked provisions of the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993 and appointed an interim chairman to hold office until a chairman is elected.

They also said that a meeting was held the next day, during which Shila Chatterjee was elected as the new chairperson of the municipality.

The court held that the state ought to have waited to know the outcome of the meeting scheduled on December 3 for the election of chairman.

"The state simply interdicted the ongoing process of election of chairman and hand-picked a councillor from the party who does not have majority membership to act as chairman," the court observed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)