Coimbatore : Speculations are going around that Tamil Nadu government is considering appointment of CEOs for smart cities since except for Chennai mostly other smart cities do not have a CEO as prescribed by the Smart City mission guidelines. At present mostly the Corporation Commissioners double up as Special Officers for Smart city projects.
Coimbatore : Speculations are going around that Tamil Nadu government is considering appointment of CEOs for smart cities since except for Chennai mostly other smart cities do not have a CEO as prescribed by the Smart City mission guidelines. At present mostly the Corporation Commissioners double up as Special Officers for Smart city projects.
The Corporation Commissioners are burdened with the task of handling Smart City projects, due to which the state government may consider appointment of CEOs for Smart cities.
In Coimbatore, an appointment was made in August 2017 for Smart City CEO which caused a huge furore on social media. R.Suganya, daughter of an ex-AIADMK MLA was appointed as CEO of Coimbatore Smart City Limited which earned a severe backlash from public and opposition parties as well. Suganya had only three years of experience in private companies and with zero experience in governance and her appointment raised severe criticism and reeked of favouritism on the part of the administration and ruling government.
Following media backlash and huge public outcry Suganya resigned citing personal reasons and also due to the controversy generated over her appointment. She assumed office on 11 August 2017 and resigned on 28th August.
Now again with the speculations going around that State Government is considering CEO appointment, the only consideration for the people of Coimbatore would be that selection of candidate for such an important position must be done based on merit and not reek of favouritism.
As per guidelines, Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) have been established for the implementation of projects in each Smart City and a CEO has to be appointed for each SPV with the approval of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The CEO shall be appointed for a fixed term of three years and shall be removed only with the ministry’s prior approval.