Gaikwad even threatened to stage a walk-out along with the corporators if Bhatia did not remain present for the rest of the meeting. The ongoing face-off between the commissioner and the corporators would have reached a nadir had Bhatia not relented, albeit grudgingly.

Bhatia pointed out that it was not mandatory for the commissioner to remain present for the general body meeting and demanded to know the provision of the law which insisted on the commissioner's presence. While some corporators created a din in the house over the matter, Ankush Kakade appealed to the commissioner not to make a prestige issue out of it.

It is a tradition which has been followed over the years by several commissioners and such meetings are the best way to understand functioning of the houseandaddress civic grievances, Kakade appealed following which Bhatia reluctantly agreed to stay.

Thursday's meeting also saw corporator Vilas Wadekar's bid to engage in a verbal duel with the commissioner for the latter's move to lodge an FIR against an official. Wadekar strongly questioned the propriety of such an act by insisting that Section 481 (I) of the BPMC Act had been flouted. Wadekar pointed out that the standing committee's permission was required before lodging a complaint against any municipal official.

The PMC on Wednesday night had lodged an FIR at the Deccan Gymkhana police station levelling misappropriation charges against the suspended head of its tax and collection department Hanumant Chavan. Even as Wadekar called upon the municipal secretary Ramdas Jagtap to clarify the position, Bhatia explained that it was not necessary to seek the permission of the standing committee for lodging an FIR, though the same was required before deciding on prosecution.

``I don't have to read any A, B, C section of an act to lodge an FIR. The constitution of India too does not obstruct anybody to lodge an FIR,'' Bhatia reiterated while Wadekar pooh-poohed the commissioner's interpretation of the Act and demanded an answer from the legal advisor. The banter continued for a while when the mayor promised to seek legal opinion from a retired judge.