Bengal Guv seeks clarification of Kolkata Mayor also holding state portfolio

Kolkata: Triggering yet another point of contention, West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has sought clarifications from the state government on how Firhad Hakim could simultaneously hold the positions of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor as well as the Municipal Affairs & Urban Development Minister.

Although information on the development surfaced on Monday, Raj Bhavan sources said the Governor sent a letter to the state government on Sunday night regarding the issue.

In his letter, the Governor has sought clarifications from the state secretariat on whether these two parallel chairs of “city mayor” and “cabinet minister” come under the purview of the “office of profit”.

Hakim, who is currently New Delhi now to participate in Trinamool Congress’s two-day agitation programme at Jantar Mantar the non-issuance of Central funds to West Bengal, has refused to react to the matter unless he was fully aware of the details of the Governor's letter.

The Mayor however, said that he was was only answerable to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had appointed him for the two posts.

Also on Sunday, the Raj Bhavan announced the Governor’s decision to appoint interim vice-chancellors for six more universities in West Bengal, which triggered another point of contention.

The state Education Department has raised objections to such appointments of vice-chancellors on two counts.

The first objection is that the appointments were done without any discussion with or the concurrence of the Department.

The is regarding the appointment of a retired IPS officer as the interim vice-chancellor of University of North Bengal.