O Pannerselvam to chair Cabinet meet today to discuss appointment of special officers
Chennai: The State Finance Minister O Pannerselvam, who was allotted the portfolios of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa after her hospitalisation, will chair a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to decide on the appointment of special officers to local bodies across Tamil Nadu.
This is the first cabinet meeting of the AIADMK government after Ms Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals on September 22.
The meeting comes a week after the acting Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao handed over all portfolios held by Ms Jayalalithaa to Mr Pannerselvam and also allowed him to chair cabinet meetings.
The Cabinet would discuss appointment of special officers to over 1 lakh local bodies since their term expires on October 24 after the Madras High Court stayed the local body elections early this month. The elections were to be held in two phases on October 17 and 19. “Since the Madras High Court extended the stay on conduct of elections for another four weeks, it has become imperative on the part of the government to appoint special officers to run the administration at the local level. The cabinet will discuss the issue and take a decision,” a senior official told Deccan Chronicle.
Once the Cabinet approves the decision to appoint special officers to corporations, municipalities, town panchayats, village panchayats, district panchayats and union panchayats, the government will come out with an official order notifying appointment of such officers.
The official said the cabinet meeting will be held on Wednesday at 9.30 am. The meeting also comes against the backdrop of the Cauvery issue on which the Opposition parties are demanding that the Tamil Nadu government lead a delegation to the Prime Minister demanding constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.
