But the twist provided by the enterprising principal secretary of the Urban Dept now proves that the couple is still married, living happily in Latur and enjoying the bliss of all privileges provided by the civic body.

On January 30 this year, the Latur District Collector sacked Kokate under the provisions of Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 for illegally awarding contracts worth crores to Messrs Laxman Construction Company which has Kokate's wife Mira as a partner. Rules have it that no civic body in India can award contracts to a firm owned by arelative of any member of the body. The rules get more stringent in the case of chiefs of the civic bodies.

Kokate challenged the Collector's order and filed a plea with the Urban Development Dept of the State Government on April 3, 1999. The appeal came for hearing before principal secretary of the said Department, Nand Lal, who has quasi-judicial powers.

In his appeal, Kokate submitted that he divorced Mira on February 25, 1994. He produced notarised affidavit which claimed that the two had separated according to ``traditional rituals and customs.''

Surprisingly, Kokate had not moved any family court, the only judicial authority confirming divorce. He obviously failed to produce a proper divorce certificate to the State Government.

Finding something definitely amiss in Kokate's affidavit, Nand Lal decided to probe the aspect; he found that going by records of revision of electoral rolls at Latur during July 15, 1994 and August 28, 1994, two were registered as husband and wife during that period, andmoreover they were residing at the same address House No 283, Ward No 39, Bodhe Nagar, Latur. Kokate, when questioned by Nand Lal, failed to provide any satisfactory explanation for the entry of names in the electoral roll.

Further, Nand Lal examined the ration card issued to Kokate. The card bearing No 121162 has names of Kokate, Mira and their children. Mira's name was not deleted from the ration card. Moreover, the card was used last on November 23, 1998.

Nand Lal sealed his findings with data from a general power of attorney that Mira Kokate had given to Osmanabad Janata Sahakari Bank on December 2, 1997. The entire set of documents clearly mentions Mira as `Mrs Mira Madhukar Kokate'. This proved yet another time that Kokate and Mira were still husband and wife and living together in 1997.

Armed with these facts, Nand Lal in April 1999 confirmed the order issued by Latur district collector to remove Kokate from his post. Nand Lal has even disqualified Kokate from continuing as a member of the LMC.According to State Government officials, Kokate has challenged the order at the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court. The officials told The Indian Express that the government would fight the case till its end and would see to it that Kokate is punished for his corrupt practices.