Jabalpur, Apr 02: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has passed an interim stay order restraining implementation of the February 20 state government notification on giving cabinet ministerial rank to mayors of four municipal corporations. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Bhawani Singh and Justice S S Kemkar, of its own accord treated the matter as a writ petition, under Article 23 of the Constitution and passed the orders yesterday.
The state government had proposed giving “special status” and rank of “cabinet ministers” to the mayors of major cities namely Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior with immediate effect. The bench passed the interim stay order restraining the implementation of the notification of the state government dated February 20 during the preliminary hearing.
The bench stated that under the present circumstances it is not befitting to give the mayors status of “cabinet ministers” for the time being. The bench also issued notices to the state government to file replies within four weeks to the state high court after receipt of yesterday's orders. Bureau Report