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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city...

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city will get a ‘Hindu Marathi’ person to head India’s richest civic body, while the Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also harbour fond hopes of a miracle that could ensure their own person for the post. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) optimism stems from expectations of possible political permutations-combinations that could develop with a realignment of forces as the Supreme Court is hearing the cases involving the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party this week. Catapulted as the largest single party, the BJP hopes to install a first ever party-man as Mayor, but that may not create history. Way back in 1982-1983, a BJP leader Dr. Prabhakar Pai had served in the top post in Mumbai (then Bombay). Incidentally, Dr. Pai hailed from Udupi district of Karnataka, and his appointment came barely a couple of years after the BJP was formed (1980), capping a distinguished career as a city father, said experts. Originally a Congressman, Dr. Pai later shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party, then back to Congress briefly, founded the Janata Seva Sangh before immersing himself in social activities. Second Administrator The 2026 Mayoral elections have evoked huge interest not only among Mumbaikars but across the country as it comes after nearly four years since the BMC was governed by an Administrator. This was only the second time in the BMC history that an Administrator was named after April 1984-May 1985. On both occasions, there were election-related issues, the first time the elections got delayed for certain reasons and the second time the polling was put off owing to Ward delimitations and OBC quotas as the matter was pending in the courts. From 1931 till 2022, Mumbai has been lorded over by 76 Mayors, men and women, hailing from various regions, backgrounds, castes and communities. They included Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, even a Jew, etc., truly reflecting the cosmopolitan personality of the coastal city and India’s financial powerhouse. In 1931-1932, the Mayor was a Parsi, J. B. Boman Behram, and others from his community followed like Khurshed Framji Nariman (after whom Nariman Point is named), E. A. Bandukwala, Minoo Masani, B. N. Karanjia and other bigwigs. There were Muslims like Hoosenally Rahimtoola, Sultan M. Chinoy, the legendary Yusuf Meherally, Dr. A. U. Memon and others. The Christian community got a fair share of Mayors with Joseph A. D’Souza – who was Member of Constituent Assembly representing Bombay Province for writing-approving the Constitution of India, M. U. Mascarenhas, P. A. Dias, Simon C. Fernandes, J. Leon D’Souza, et al. A Jew Elijah Moses (1937-1938) and a Sikh M. H. Bedi (1983-1984), served as Mayors, but post-1985, for the past 40 years, nobody from any minority community occupied the august post. During the silver jubilee year of the post, Sulochana M. Modi became the first woman Mayor of Mumbai (1956), and later with tweaks in the rules, many women ruled in this post – Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar (1994-1995), Vishakha Raut (997-1998), Dr. Shubha Raul (March 2007-Nov. 2009), Shraddha Jadhav (Dec. 2009-March 2012), Snehal Ambedkar (Sep. 2014-March 2017). The last incumbent (before the Administrator) was a government nurse, Kishori Pednekar (Nov. 2019-March 2022) - who earned the sobriquet of ‘Florence Nightingale’ of Mumbai - as she flitted around in her full white uniform at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, earning the admiration of the citizens. Mumbai Mayor – high-profile post The Mumbai Mayor’s post is considered a crucial step in the political ladder and many went on to become MLAs, MPs, state-central ministers, a Lok Sabha Speaker, Chief Ministers and union ministers. The formidable S. K. Patil was Mayor (1949-1952) and later served in the union cabinets of PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Lah Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi; Dahyabhai V. Patel (1954-1955) was the son of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; Manohar Joshi (1976-1977) became the CM of Maharashtra, later union minister and Speaker of Lok Sabha; Chhagan Bhujbal (1985-1986 – 1990-1991) became a Deputy CM.

You May Be a Victim of a Corrupt Judge

Think justice is always served? Think again. A corrupt judge could be the reason you lost your case — and you may never even know it.

On a regular day, we read and hear of multiple incidents reported through various news and articles. Do we understand the real impact of those incidents on and around us? This article is an attempt to make you realise the actual impact of one such shocking truth.


Corruption in the judiciary has been making headlines recently. Imagine you're caught in a legal dispute and turn to the court for relief. You endure the long, frustrating process for years, only to lose the case. You’re left confused—after all, you were truthful and innocent, and the facts clearly supported you. You tell yourself the law wasn’t on your side, or maybe it was just bad luck. But what if it was neither? What if your opponent bribed the judge—and that’s why you lost?


Can we imagine the damage and atrocities a corrupt judge can inflict? Let us see a few examples:

  • If you own a property that is rightfully yours but somebody falsely claims it to be theirs and bribes the judge, you could end up losing your property.

  • If you are a victim of a crime like murder, rape, kidnapping, narcotics, extortion, dacoity, etc., and if the offender bribes the judge, he will be wrongly released on bail or acquitted of the offence committed against you?

  • If you are falsely accused of an offence like murder, rape, kidnapping, narcotics, extortion, dacoity, etc., and your opponent bribes the judge? You will lose your liberty and will be wrongly detained in custody for an offence not committed by you for a period which might last between a day and may be extended till the end of your life.

  • If you are a woman and deserve alimony, child custody, etc., but your opponent bribes the judge, you will wrongly lose your alimony or custody of your child.


Can you imagine the pain and suffering one had to go through due to an experience similar to this? Maybe not, because you believe ‘YOU WILL NOT BE THE NEXT.’


The situation leaves us with some important questions unanswered:

  • Whether all the judges who are accused of corruption are actually booked for the offence under the stringent laws of the land; if not, then why?

  • Whether all the judges booked for the offence of corruption were efficiently prosecuted and convicted; if not, then why?

  • Whether there is a possibility that even today, there are judges who are corrupt and are continuously inflicting the above atrocities on innocent people; if yes, then what?

  • Whether all the cases previously decided by a corrupt judge in his career are rechecked, the person damaged because of his corrupt activities is appropriately compensated, and whether their rights are restored.

  • There is a saying nowadays that justice is not what it is, but justice is what is delivered in court, then whatever it may be.


Is this a big scam? You are made to believe that the courts will deliver justice, and you are made to approach the courts, and then by accepting a bribe from your opponent, injustice is done to you. We cannot say that 100% of judges are corrupt, but we cannot say otherwise, either. So how are we going to know that the judge who is handling our matter is a corrupt one or a non-corrupt one?


We are in an era where we should say that “A Corrupt judge is not the one who accepts a bribe, but the one who gets caught for accepting a bribe.”


(The writer is a lawyer practicing in the Bombay High Court. Views personal.)

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