Madurai Mayor suspends independent councillor

Madurai Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth has sent a strong message that indiscipline will not be tolerated by suspending independent councillor K. Jayachandran from attending two council meetings on Sunday.

On Friday, when the council meeting at Madurai Corporation was in progress, the Mayor gave an opportunity to as many as 22 councillors, who had given their names and expressed their willingness to talk, to voice their grievances, to which all the officials present responded.

As his name was being read out, the independent councillor raised his voice and accused Commissioner C. Dinesh Kumar on a matter relating to his district. Though the commissioner replied in detail, stating that the officers were doing their job as per the law and explaining the rules, the member interrupted him with abusive words. The councillor shouted and started accusing some of the officers, which prompted the entire body of officers to boycott.

For at least 10 minutes, the proceedings were suspended as the officials refused to return to their seats. Some of the council members expressed their concern and even asked the independent MP to state his point of view and sit down, but he was agitated and continued to justify his position.

Only when the commissioner asked the mayor to take legal action against the member did the officers return to their seats and the meeting continued.

The mayor intervened and asked the member to be polite. “All members are welcome to ask questions and officers are here to answer. You are not allowed to shout or make accusations,” she said, calling on the council member to retract his accusations and apologize.

However, the councillor claimed that he spent Rs 700,000 to repair the damaged UGD system in his district following the “irresponsible” actions of the officials and demanded justice from the mayor.

A civic official said the mayor had issued an order stating that “Councillor Jayachandran has been suspended for two council meetings under municipal bylaws for obstructing the meeting, behaving irresponsibly and making derogatory remarks about the officials during the meeting held on June 28 at Anna Maaligai,” he added.