Two contempt petitions filed against district collector

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, April 30:

Two contempt petitions have been filed against the district collector for not taking appropriate action against two councillors of the Sillod Municipal Council (SMC) in the last six months. The hearing upon these petitions will be held in the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court after summer vacation.

The citizens Mahesh Shankarlal Shankarpally and Saira Bee Shaikh Rahim, both raised objection and submitted an independent application to the district collector in 2019. They urged the collector to declare the membership of two councillors of SMC Nandkishore Vithalrao Sahare and Sarita Manoj Zanwar as invalid as they have made illegal construction under the jurisdiction of SMC. They should be held under Section 44 (1) of Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagarpanchayats and Industrial Estates Act 1965.

However the collector took no action upon their plaints from 2019 to 2021. Hence, both of them, filed civil petitions independently in the High Court. When the petition was heard, before the bench comprising Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice R N Ladda, on October 6, 2021, the collector through an affidavit assured of disposing of the case in six months. However, when he failed to take appropriate action, both the petitioners through Adv Angad L Kanade (Bhatsanghvikar), filed two separate contempt petitions in the High Court.