"It is the considered opinion of the alliance government that the Mayor-in-Council experiment in Mumbai as well as Nagpur was a complete failure. Under such circumstances, the only alternative for the government is to amend the Municipal Corporation Act and scrap the system,'' a senior Shiv Sena Minister said.

Chief Minister Narayan Rane said that soon after he took over the reins of the state, he had ordered a review of the MiC system in view of large-scale complaints against the corporation. ``I had a prolonged meeting with chief secretary P Subramanian, municipal commissioner Girish Gokhale and urban development secretary K Nalinakshan. By and large, the view was that the system should be scrapped,'' Rane said.

Despite strong opposition from within the alliance and from corporation members, formerCM Manohar Joshi had got the bill to provide for MiC passed in the budget session of the state legislature last year. Nandkumar Satam, Joshi's trusted aide, was installed as first mayor under the new system.

According to the senior Sena Minister, the MiC failed on four counts. One, it was unable to maintain the high image of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Two, there was lack of transparency within the system. Third, the corporation was in a financial mess for the first time in its 110-year-old history and had come to have a deficit budget. Four, members of the MiC did not have any accountability. In addition to all this, the Minister said, there was inordinate delay in execution of all major projects.

``The BMC has lost its credibility due to the financial mess. A corporation which was always in surplus now has a deficit of Rs 650 crore. All the employees are fast withdrawing their provident fund amount. It is a very bad situation for the corporation,'' the Minister noted.

He said there was completelack of transparency in the style of functioning of MiC members. ``From the reports submitted by the municipal commissioner, it appeared that the members were taking their own decisions without considering the interest of Mumbai or the corporation,'' the Minister said.

According to him, most of the projects have been inordinately delayed due to non-finalisation of tenders. ``While tenders were floated in November, no work orders have been issued so far. Under such circumstances, I do not think the works will be completed before onset of monsoon,'' the Minister pointed out.

When Joshi had introduced the bill for MiC, leader of opposition in the legislative council Chhagan Bhujbal, who had been mayor of Mumbai twice, had strongly objected to the proposal alleging that it would concentrate powers in the hands of one person. Bhujbal had recommended that the proposal be referred to the joint select committee for a wider consideration, instead of taking a decision in haste. He had even suggested that thegovernment should introduce MiC on an experimental basis in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, which is smaller compared to the Mumbai corporation.

Significantly, the observations now being made by the CM and senior Sena and BJP Ministers had been brought to the notice of the legislature by Bhujbal last year, when the bill was taken up for discussion.