Bombay High Court directs BMC to accept Rutuja Latke’s resignation

“She (Ms.Latke) is your (BMC) employee. You should be helping her out,” the Court tells BMC

In a major relief to ‘Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ party, the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to accept the resignation of its employee and the party’s candidate for the forthcoming Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll, Rutuja Latke.

A division Bench comprising Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sharmila Deshmukh asked the competent authority of the Mumbai civic body to accept the resignation of Ms. Latke and issue an appropriate letter by 11 a.m. on Friday. The last day for filing the nomination papers for the November 3 by-election is Friday, and the Court’s move would pave way for her to file her nominations.

Ms. Latke, an administrative officer in the K ward of the BMC, tendered her resignation on September 2, with a view to contesting the by-election, which was necessitated by the death of her husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May. On October 3, she was told that her letter was not in a proper format. She submitted a fresh resignation letter on the same day, but the civic body was yet to take a call.

On Wednesday, she moved the High Court seeking a direction to the BMC to accept her resignation. She said the delay was to prevent her from contesting the by-election. Team Uddhav alleged BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal was under tremendous pressure from the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP government not to accept Ms. Latke’s resignation and was dragging the matter so that she becomes ineligible to contest. However, Mr. Chahal denied any pressure and said the rule permits him to decide in 30 days.

The Court said the use or non-use of discretion by the BMC Commissioner in taking a decision on the resignation, in this case, was ‘arbitrary’. “She (Ms.Latke) is your (BMC) employee. You should be helping her out,” the Court told senior counsel Anil Sakhare, appearing for the BMC.

The petitioner’s counsel Vishwajeet Sawant told the division bench that she is a clerk and has no pending dues or enquiries, but due to political circumstances, her resignation was pending before the Commissioner.

Earlier in the day, the Court asked the civic body what was its difficulty in deciding on the resignation submitted by Ms. Latke, and said it was just an employer-employee dispute before them. “This is not even a matter that should have come to court. The BMC Commissioner should have done it by now. When will you do it? The last date is tomorrow,” the Court said.