Stop needless spending on cases: BMC chief

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to stop unnecessary spending on court cases. Municipal commissioner Pravin Pardeshi ordered, in a circular, on Wednesday that the amount spent on trivial cases should be recovered from civic officials and departments concerned.

Mr Pardeshi stated in the circular that if it was found that officers were taking matters to court without adequate reason, the amount spent on such cases would not be paid from the BMC’s kitty and the officers or departments concerned would be required to bear the expenses. “I have asked officers if we lose the case or our appeal is rejected by the high court, don’t file further appeals if we don’t have adequate grounds to challenge it,” said Mr Pardeshi.

The decision is applicable for fresh cases after the issuance of the circular and not for cases that sub judice, he added.

It has been found that BMC is spending crores of rupees on more than 70,000 cases against citizens or BMC workers in various courts. Deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners of different departments also tend to request the civic body’s legal department to appeal in higher courts.

Mr Pardeshi, the then-additional chief secretary to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, took charge as municipal commissioner on May 13 from Ajoy Mehta, who became chief secretary.