Navi Mumbai: Panvel corporator Arvind Mhatre (50) of Bharatiya Shetkari Kamgar Paksha (BSKP), which formed an alliance (Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi) with Indian National Congress (INC) as opposition in the Panvel Municipal Corporation, filed a writ petition through his advocate, Chetan Nagare, in the Bombay High Court on March 4, seeking an order (writ of mandamus) directing the mayor to appoint him as the Leader of Opposition in the Panvel civic house. The petitioner also made the Panvel Municipal Commissioner a respondent.The petitioner, corporator Arvind Mhatre, said, “Despite the alliance group leader, corporator Ketan Bhagat, submitting an official letter to the Mayor’s office on February 17 informing them that I was chosen to represent the alliance as Leader of Opposition in the Panvel civic house, the Mayor ignored the request for almost 1 month. This amounts to arbitrary and mala fide action on the part of the mayor, who is in the process of appointing committees and making policy decisions without appointing the Leader of Opposition in the civic house. This act is, at its core, against the constitutional principles of democracy.”
Mhatre further emphasised that if any committee is appointed or policy decisions are taken by the mayor without appointing the Leader of Opposition, he will lose the right to participate in the civic body’s decision-making process and it will cause him grave injustice. Therefore, he filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court.Arvind Mhatre said, “The mayor not appointing me as Leader of Opposition in the Panvel civic house is an act of ‘authoritarianism.’ As the BSKP-INC alliance has a strength of 13 corporators (BSKP 9 and INC 4) after the governing BJP’s 56 seats in the 78-member civic body, our alliance is eligible to be the opposition party. Despite our alliance group leader’s official letter to the mayor requesting to appoint me as Leader of Opposition in the Panvel civic house, the mayor ignored the mandate, when the appointment of Leader of Opposition is mandatory under Section 19-IAA of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, 1949, and there can be no deviation from the same, nor does the mayor possess any discretionary power in this regard. Also, on February 27, the Panvel civic chief highlighted the mandate under the provisions of the MMC Act, 1949, but to date no action has been initiated by the mayor.”Mhatre further said, “In my writ petition, I prayed that the HC may kindly be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, direction, or order, thereby directing the Mayor to appoint me (petitioner) as the Leader of Opposition in the Panvel Municipal Corporation, under Section 19 of the MMC Act, 1949, in furtherance of the letter dated February 17, 2026, addressed to the Mayor by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi group leader, Ketan Bhagat. Also, pending the court hearing and final disposal of the writ petition, restrain the mayor from making any policy decisions.”
