Kochi Corporation refuses to share its secretary with special purpose vehicle

KOCHI: Differences surfaced at the first director board meeting of the Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML), the special purpose vehicle for implementation of the Smart City project held here on Monday.

Though the Mission proposed Amit Meena, the secretary of the Kochi Corporation as the CEO of the CSML, the civic authorities opposed it arguing additional responsibilities to him will badly affect the day-to-day functioning of the local body.

“The secretary could not be appointed as the CEO as it would affect the local body’s functioning. The Smart City Mission should either identify some other official or appoint a new secretary,” said Mayor Soumini Jain, who attended the meeting.

Following the mayor’s statement, the CSML director board decided to take up the issue with the ministry of urban development. Representatives of the corporation also demanded that they should be given more time to form their opinion on the Articles of Association of the company.

“The civic body didn’t get enough time to study and take a position on it. We also have to seek the opinion from legal experts on the Articles,” she said. The meeting also decided to include district collector M.G. Rajamanickam and an official from the finance department to the director board. It has also been proposed not to pay the sitting fee for the director board members attending its meetings.

The minutes of the meeting will send to the ministry of urban development so as the ministry can release the first installment of Rs 200 crore for implementing the Smart City projects. The ministry had earlier stipulated that the first director board meeting of the SPV should be convened before March 31.