Vishakha Raut’s disqualification as a Mumbai corporator was formally announced in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) general body on Monday, after a caste certificate verification committee declared her certificate invalid and the Maharashtra government issued a notification on her ineligibility.
BMC Mayor Ritu Tawde made the announcement in the civic body’s house after the municipal secretary’s department placed the proposal before her. The decision formally ends Raut’s tenure as a corporator and reduces the strength of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) group in the municipal corporation to 63, according to the report.
Raut, a former Mumbai mayor and serving corporator from the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, had challenged the disqualification process in the Bombay High Court. The court did not grant her relief, after which the formal announcement of the cancellation of her corporator post remained the final administrative step.
The action follows an earlier decision by the Palghar district caste certificate scrutiny committee, which held Raut’s caste certificate to be invalid. The Maharashtra government subsequently published a notification on Friday declaring her disqualified. BMC Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide then wrote to the Urban Development Department seeking the initiation of the disqualification process against Raut.
Raut had also approached Konkan Bhavan against the invalidation of her caste certificate. The outcome of that appeal remains pending, according to the report. She is also expected to approach the Supreme Court against the cancellation of her municipal office, although no order from the apex court has been reported.
Raut’s disqualification is the fifth such cancellation reported in the 227-member Mumbai civic body on grounds linked to invalid caste certificates. The earlier cases involved AIMIM corporators Roshan Sheikh from ward 138 and Shamir Ramzan Patel from ward 137; Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) corporator Deepak Rajaram Sawant from ward 111; and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) corporator Bushra Captain Malik from ward 170 in Kurla.
The decision also alters the numerical balance among political groups in the BMC. BJP group leader and House leader Ganesh Khankar said the action had been taken according to law and suggested that the Thackeray-led party could face further setbacks. His statement was political commentary and did not alter the formal municipal decision announced on Monday.
The immediate legal developments are expected to depend on the pending Konkan Bhavan appeal and any further challenge by Raut before the Supreme Court. The municipal corporation’s announcement completes the current disqualification process at the civic-body level.
