Chandigarh, Dec. 31 -- Amid the growing clamour for extending the Chandigarh mayor's tenure to five years, UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria seems to have taken the middle-ground approach, assuring councillors that he is in favour of extending the term to at least two-and-a-half years.

Attending the municipal corporation (MC)'s last General House meeting of the year as a "special guest", the administrator told the councillors that he will take up the issue of extending the mayor's term with the Union home minister.

While discussing the pros and cons of having a mayor for a longer term, Kataria acknowledged that the current one-year term is too short. He described a two-and-a-half-year term as practical.

"The basic advantage of a may...