74th Constitutional Amendment Implementation and Implications
Under the 74th Constitutional Amendment, the urban areas comprise different
types of municipal bodies constituted with reference to character, size and
importance of different towns and cities. Municipal Corporations, Municipal
Committees, Notified Area Committees, Town Area Committees, and Cantonment
Boards are the usual types of municipal bodies and while the first four types
were created under the state municipal laws, the Cantonment Boards owed their
origin to the Central Act called the Cantonments Act, 1924.
In most of the states, all these types of urban
local bodies existed except the Town Area Committees, which had since been
abolished and converted into class – III Municipal Committees. Town Area
Committees were semi municipal committees constituted for small towns by a
separate act of the state legislative assembly.
After passing the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992, the
Government of India notified the Amendment in June 1993. The Act of 1992
provided for a period of one year from the date of its commencement, the states
were required to change amend or modify there legislations in order to
incorporate the Central Amendment. Various states and union territories have
enacted legislations for the governance of the urban local bodies in their
respective jurisdictions. For example, the Punjab government enacted the Punjab
Municipal Bill, 1998 to replace the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911.
A three tier structure of urban local bodies were
proposed in the 74th Constitutional Amendment act namely, Nagar Panchayat or
Town Panchayat, Municipalities and Municipal Corporations. We shall discuss
briefly the details of the above three urban local bodies established under the
74th Constitutional Amendment Act.
A Nagar Panchayat or Town Panchayat is constituted
for a transitional area, ie. , an area in transition from a rural area to an
urban area. The population of such an area is 5000 or more but less than 15,000
and the revenue generated from tax and sources exceeds such amount per capita
per annum as many be specified by the government from time to time. Every Nagar
Panchayat is a body corporate and has a perpetual succession and a common seal
with power to acquire and hold, or dispose of properties and may sue and sued.
A Town panchayat shall consist of such number of
elected members not less than 9 or not more than 15, as the state government
may determine by rules. The members of the legislative assembly representing
the constituencies comprising transitional area or any part of thereof, and two
members nominated by the state government from amongst persons having special
knowledge or experience in municipal administration. The nominated members
shall not have the right to vote in the Town panchayat meetings. The term of a
Town Panchayat shall be 5 years.
The government shall divide a transitional area
(town panchayat area) in to a number of territorial constituencies known as
wards and each ward shall elect only one member. Out of the total number of
seats in Town Panchayat to be filled by direct election, seats are reserved for
Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the same proportion of the
population of SCs and STs to the total population of that town panchayat area.
In addition, one third of the total number of seats of that area are reserved
for women, including the seats reserved for SCs and STs. The town panchayat
members shall be elected from amongst its members, One President and one Vice
President in a meeting convened by the Deputy commissioner. Every Town
Panchayat shall perform obligatory functions such as water supply, drainage,
clearing the streets etc. Every town panchayat shall have an executive officer
appointed by the state government
A Municipal Council or municipality is constituted
for a small urban area with a population of 15,000 or more but is less than 3
lakhs and the revenue generated from the tax and other sources exceeds such
amount per capita per annum as may be specified by state government from time
to time.
A Municipal Council or Municipality for example in
Class-A, not less than 20 and not more that 50 elected members; Class-B 15-30,
and Class-C, 10-15. The members of State Legislative Assembly representing the
constituencies lying within the municipal area are “Ex-Officio” members of the
Municipal Council. Not more than 3 members are nominated by the state
government. The nominated members do not have the right to vote in the
elections of the chairpersons and vice chairpersons. The members are elected
through secret ballot.
The whole municipal area is divided into wards, as
per the number of councilors to be elected , say 15 or 30 or 10 . The electoral
rolls of the legislative assembly in relation to municipal area are generally
taken as the voters list. The candidates contesting in the elections are
allotted symbols. The symbols of the recognized political parties are allotted
only to the candidates sponsored or adopted by the them.
The Deputy Commissioner has to call the meeting of
the elected members within 14 days of the notification of the election results
to administer the Oath of office and to hold the election of the President and
Vice-President. As that of Town Panchayats, seats are reserved for the SCs and
STs according to the proportion of the population of SCs and STs to the total
population of the municipal area. In addition, 30 per cent of total seats are
reserved for women including the SCs and STs seats.
The 74th Amendment provide the constitution of ward
committees consisting of one or more wards within the territorial area of a
Municipality, having a population of 3 lakhs or more. A member of a
Municipality representing a ward with in the territorial area of the ward
committee shall be a member of the ward committee. The Standing Committees
shall be constituted for each Municipality consisting of the President, senior
Vice-President, and Vice president and 4 other members in the case of Class- A,
2 in the case of Class-B from among the elected members for a period of 2 and
half years. The term of office of Municipality is five years. The elected municipality
can be dissolved if it is not performing as per the provisions of law.
The Municipal Council meets at least once in a
month, presided over by the President or in his/her absence Vice- President.
The Municipal Council with the increasing load of work, elects subcommittees
comprising councillors from amongst itself to study a problem in depth and make
recommendation for its solution. The sub committees are of two types statutory
committees and, non-statutory committees. Municipal bodies also appoint special
sub committees for certain specific purposes and follow the same procedure for
their election as it adopts the constitution of standing sub committees.
A Municipal Council elects its President from
amongst members within one month of the constitution of Municipal Council. The
Municipal Council is constituted after elections are held. The President is
elected for a period of 5 years. The Municipal Council also elects one or two
Vice- Presidents. The Presidents of the municipalities in various states draw
monthly salary in addition to travelling allowance . The President convenes and
presides over the meeting of the Municipal Council. He / She is empowered to
take disciplinary action against offending councilors. The President is the
chief spokesperson of the Municipal Council and represents it at official
functions and also with regard to correspondence with the government.
The state government in every municipality appoints
an Executive Officer. The Executive Officer is the principal executive authority
and all municipal staff is sub-ordinate to him/ her. He/ She is the important
officer to execute, supervise monitor and report the activities of the
Municipalities to the council. The Municipal Council is the governing body of
the Municipality, responsible for Municipal Administration. It makes by laws
the governing place and time of council meetings, the manner of giving notices,
the conduct of meetings.
The councilors are expected to keep themselves in
touch with the citizens and enquire about their grievances against municipal
staff, and bringing to the notice of the appropriate administrative head or to
raise the matter in the council meetings. The powers and responsibilities of
municipalities are enshrined in the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution. (See
Box-2)
The 74th Constitutional Amendment provided the
constitution of committee for district planning, to prepare a draft development
plan for the district as a whole. The Committee shall consolidate the plans
prepared by the panchayats and municipalities in the district. The composition
of the District Planning Committee as provided in the Act of 1992, consists of
that not less than 4/5th of the total members of the committee. They shall be
elected by and from amongst the elected members of the Panchayats at the
district level and of the municipalities in the district, in proportion to the
ratio between the population of the rural areas and of the urban areas in the
district.
The Municipalities have been provided with the power to raise revenue for discharging its duties and performing its functions such as the taxes, duties and fees which could be levied and collected by the Municipalities (For example: tax on lands and buildings, scavenging tax on octroi, a tax on advertisements, a fire tax, toll on roads and bridges etc) the 74th Amendment Act made it obligatory for the state governments to Constitute State Finance Commission within one year from the commencement of Act.
The State Finance Commission shall
make recommendations regarding:
(i) Distribution between the state government and
municipalities of the net proceeds of taxes, duties, tolls and fees to be
assigned or appropriated by the state;
(ii) Allocation
of share of such proceeds between the municipalities at all levels in the
states;
(iii) Determination
of taxes, duties tolls and fees to be assigned or appropriated by the
municipalities;
(iv) Grants-in-aid
to fund the state;
(v) Measures needed to improve the financial
position of the municipalities.
However in practice, the Municipalities in our country undertake only such functions which have been specifically assigned to them by respective state legislative enactments. This restrictive approach to municipal functions no longer and holds good in the changed political context and needs of the country. There has been increasing tendency on the part of the state government to take over more and more local functions either directly or by creating special purpose agencies.
The Municipal Corporations constitute the highest
or the top most form of urban local government in India. They are created for
big cities by the enactments of the State Legislatures or of the Parliament in
the case of Union Territory. The various categories of the cities are
determined by its population, area or revenues. Municipal Corporations in the
early period were established in three Presidency towns viz; Bombay, Madras and
Calcutta. A Municipal Corporation is based on the democratic principle of
management of local affairs by the representatives of the people of the city
concerned, who are to be elected periodically on the basis of universal adult
franchise with reservation of seats for SCs and STs in proportion to their
population and also for women. The Municipal Corporation is marked by statutory
separation of deliberative and executive wings.
The Corporation Council and the Standing Committees
Constituted the deliberative wing and the executive wing. The Council,
consisting of elected representatives and a few nominated members, is
responsible for the exercise of legislative powers. The Standing Committees
function as an auxiliary of the Corporations. All the matters to be passed by
the council pass through it after it considers the proposals and recommendation
made by the Municipal Commissioner. The Municipal Commissioner is the chief
executive and implementing the decisions taken by the council.
Municipal Corporations in India are generally structured on the pattern
of Bombay Municipal Corporation. The tenure of the Municipal Corporation is 5
years. The 74th Amendment provides wards committees, which shall be considered
for one or more wards within the territorial areas of the Corporation. The
chairperson shall be elected for one year and shall be eligible for re -
election. A ward committee supervises provision of water supply, pipes and
sewage, drainage connections to premises removal of accumulated water on
streets or public places due to rain or other, collection and removal of solid
waste, provision of health immunization, services for the civic services in
slum and lighting, repair of roads, maintenance parks drains and etc.,.
A Municipal Corporation shall have a Standing
Committee constituted by it, consisting of Mayor, the senior deputy Mayor and
other councilors elected by the councilors of the Corporation from amongst the
members. The Mayor shall be the chairperson of the Standing Committee. The
Municipal Corporation also constitutes committees to deal with subject matters
such as water supply, sewage etc.,. Each subject committee shall consist of not
less than three and not more than five members.
The term of the subject committees is one year. The Municipal
Corporations have been provided with financial resources to carry out its
duties assigned to it by the 74th Amendment. A list of 18 functions to be
performed by Municipal Corporations has been given in the 12th Schedule of the
Constitution. Like the 73rd Amendment Act, the 74th Amendment Act also provided
for a committee planning metropolitan area.
The Committee consists of not less than 2/3rd of
the members who shall be elected by and from the elected members of the
Municipalities and chairpersons of the panchayats in the metropolitan area in
proportion to the ratio between the population of Municipalities and of the
Panchayats in that area.
All Municipal Corporations are provided with the
office of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Mayor in some states are directly elected
by all the voters with in the metro city. In some states, Mayor is elected from
amongst the elected councilors. The Mayor presides over council meetings, guide
its deliberations to maintain decorum and exclude any objectionable portion
from the record of the proceedings of the council. He/ She is also empowered to
expel and even suspend members for gross misconduct or disorderly behaviour. In
case of a tie he/she exercises his /her casting vote.
The Municipal Commissioner is the chief executive
officer of the Corporation. Normally the commissioner is being appointed from
officers in I.A.S (Indian Administrative Service) cadre. The commissioner’s
appointment vested in the state government, has been a subject of great
controversy. The term of the commissioner is three years, which can be extended
by the state government. He/she is one of the statutory municipal authorities
to carry out the provisions of the Corporation Act.
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