In a major development in the controversy over the constitution of the Municipal Corporation’s Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC), two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors — Yuvraj Singh Sidhu and Aman Bagga, sons of Atam Nagar MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu and Ludhiana North MLA Madan Lal Bagga, respectively — have announced that they resigned from the committee on July 30, days before the next hearing of a petition pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.The dispute began after Congress councillor Gaurav Bhatti approached the High Court, challenging the nomination of the two councillors to the powerful committee. In his petition, Bhatti alleged that the appointments were made in violation of the provisions of the Municipal Corporation Act and that the prescribed procedure for nominating members had not been followed. The petition has also received support from councillors of the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal.During the last hearing, the petitioner also alleged that despite the court restraining fresh meetings of the F&CC, certain resolutions were being approved in anticipation by the Mayor and Municipal Corporation officials.The matter is now listed for hearing on August 7.On Monday, both Yuvraj and Aman made separate announcements on social media, stating that they had already submitted their resignations from the committee on July 30.In a detailed Facebook post, Yuvraj said he had accepted the responsibility of serving on the committee with gratitude after being nominated by the party leadership and the Mayor.However, he said that after his appointment was challenged in court, the committee’s functioning had come to a halt as meetings could not be held while the matter remained under judicial consideration, affecting development works in the city.Stating that Ludhiana’s development was more important than any position, Sidhu said he had decided to resign voluntarily so that civic projects did not remain stalled because of the legal dispute. He added that he was prepared to sacrifice “thousands of such posts” if it helped protect the city’s interests and ensured public welfare.Aman, in a separate social media post, also confirmed that he had stepped down from the F&CC on July 30. He said he did not want the ongoing controversy to become a hurdle in the committee’s functioning or delay development projects undertaken by the Municipal Corporation.Meanwhile, highly placed sources said that a high-level meeting was held on Saturday to discuss the legal implications of the appointments.Following the meeting, directions were reportedly issued to the Municipal Commissioner to cancel the nominations of the two councillors with immediate effect.Sources further said that the authorities have also been advised not to nominate new members to the committee for the next couple of months, as the matter is still pending before the High Court. An official confirmation regarding these directions, however, is awaited.