Corpn Council advances timing of debates?

Published Date: 7/Jan/2010

G Saravanan

Chennai, January 6: WITH the debate on significant resolutions at the Corporation Council meetings having become a ‘not so important affair’ for many councillors, due to its timing, the civic body is planning to advance the slot for debates, positioning it just after Question Hour.

According to Ripon Building sources, the proposed advancement was necessitated after a few councillors routinely utilised the debate time to discuss administrative issues rather than burning civic problems.

While resolutions on employees’ retirement, sanctions for long leave, foreign visits, promotions and transfers, which were purely administrative, fully occupied the debate slot, important resolutions involving the city’s infrastructure developments and major policy shifts got the least priority with councillors at the meeting.

The civic body, therefore, plans to delegate powers to different standing committees to sort out the debate-worthy issues. As per the existing style of function, ordinary council meetings scheduled every month would start at 10 am on the announced day with a Question Hour of about 30 minutes.

Then, Zero Hour would follow, where about 15 councillors including the Opposition Floor Leader and the Ruling Party Leader would be given time to express their views on various issues. It usually lasts about three hours.

Thus, only after three-and-ahalf hours of business, would resolutions in the House be tabled and councillors debate on them. The discussion on resolutions, which takes place at the end of the day, most of the time lacks spirit, and those participating in the debate only speak about administrative problems, a senior Corporation official observed.