A meeting of the party leaders in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) took up the issue today where they bitterly complained about Bhatia's alleged high-handed attitude towards the elected representatives. Mayor Dutta Gaikwad made no bones about his strong feelings against the manner in which Bhatia functioned.

While the final decision could not be taken in the meeting, a resolution demanding Bhatia's removal is likely to be tabled within two days with a special meeting of the general body set to be convened next week. Last couple of weeks have seen both the elected representatives clashing against the commissioner over a series of issues. Gaikwad particularly questioned the commissioner's latest move of slashing the expenses on petrol and refreshment allowance for the mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee chairman.

He hit out against the commissioner for allegedly being more interested in ``filing complaints and making charges'' against corporators rather than take up the vital civic development works.

Even as there was increasing support from the BJP and Congress camps for Bhatia's removal at the meeting, the corporators preferred to wait for a few days before taking up the resolution demanding Bhatia's removal. The BJP will take out a signature campaign and a meeting of the BJP and Congress camps will be held respectively. As per Section 36 (3) of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, the commissioner can be removed if at a meeting of the corporation not less than five-eighths of the whole number of councillors vote in favour of a resolution requiring his removal.

The mayor told media persons that all party leaders were sorely upset over Bhatia's style of functioning and a motion demanding the commissioner's removal could be tabled at any time. The commissioner had issued an order restricting the expenditure on petrol with the mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee chairman to be given an allowance of Rs 50,000 per year.

While the order had sent shock waves among the corporators, the mayor pointed out that the civic budget had made the provision of Rs 60,000 as refreshment allowance to the three office-bearers as per the government guidelines.

Bhatia should have read the guidelines before issuing the order, Gaikwad said. Gaikwad also pointed out that the mandatory approval from the general body had been taken regarding the allowances.