The long and expensive search for someone to run Tower Hamlets council…er..continued tonight after councillors decisively voted to defer a decision on what to do next.
At a grandly titled Extraordinary Meeting of Tower Hamlets Council, pretty much next-to-nothing happened.
Councillors had been due to set out a way forward after Tory and Labour councillors last month voted down the previous process, effectively blocking the proposal by Mayor Lutfur Rahman and his merry band of independents to appoint the Development and Regeneration Director Aman Dalvi, who, the last time I saw him reminded me of those plastic little ducks being fired at with bent guns at a dodgy fairground shootout.
But, of course, this being Tower Hamlets, nothing really didn’t happen. The reason they voted to defer a decision until another meeting on July 11 was because today, I understand, two legal notices were served on the council.
One, I’m told, was served by Lutfur Independent Councillor Kabir Ahmed.
Apparently, he has served a pre-action notice of intention to launch a Judicial Review of the failed appointment process. This action, as I understand it, would be against the council, which would mean taxpayers like me and you liable for any costs.
I’ve no idea who is funding Kabir’s action: his latest register of interests from November 2011 show him employed by the Bangladesh Youth Movement, so I doubt he would qualify for legal aid. Perhaps he feels he is wealthy enough to risk such an action, which has apparently named Aman as an interested party.
As for the second legal process, I’m told that is being filed by a senior council officer. I’ve been given the name, but I’m not yet 100 per cent sure it is right. I’ll update this post when I am.
It’s a bit like the last days of the Roman Empire at Mulberry Place at the moment…but without the fun.
Trial by Jeory 