The High Court on August 8, 2019 directed the formation of ward committees in Mangalore immediately after the elections to the MCC Council on a public interest writ petition filed by Karnataka Ward Samithi Vedike, MCC Civic Group and others. However, there was abnormal delay in formation of the Council as covid pandemic kept the issue in limbo sine then and gained momentum after Premananda Shetty became the Mayor on March 2 this year. Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) is finalizing the list of members for each committee and is likely to form them by this month-end. Over 1,200 applications were received for ward committees in all and each committee would ideally have 10 members. The scrutiny of applications is over and the final selection is pending. The ward committees will be formed within a month. The committees were mandated by the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act and comprise citizen representatives basically to decide and monitor works in each ward. Area sabhas comprising representatives from three-four polling booths and neighbourhood groups having less than 100 members from each polling booth were also yet to be formed.