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UNIT 19 MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION Structure
Objectives Introduction Meaning and Nature of Local
Self-Government Urbanisation in India Seventy-Fourth Constitutional
Amendment Urban Local Self-Government Urban Development Authorities
Administrative Structure Finance State and Local Self-Government
Let Us Sum Up Key Words References and Further Readings Answers to
Check Your Progress Exercises
19.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this Unit you should be able to:
Describe tlie trends in urbanisation in India; Discuss the
composition of councils, committee systems in Municipal Corporation
and Municipalities in India; Explain the role of Political
Executives and Commissioners; Examine the status of municipal
personnel and finances; and :
Highlight the State-Urban local body relations. .-
19.1 INTRODUCTION In the developing countries, the Colonial
Governments during the period of their domination established
several statutory institutions. Among them Urban Local Self-
Government institutions are most prominent. Ever since the
establishment of Madras (Chennai) Municipal Corporation four
centuries ago, there has been a
, proliferation of municipal bodies to manage the town and city.
Lord Rippon's resolution in 1882 sought to place these Urban Local
Government institutions on a sound organisational footing. They
have been working with different degrees of success in
administering the city. In this Unit, we shall examine the nature
of urbanisation in India, different types of urban local bodies,
administrative structure, role of bureaucracy, municipal finance,
control over local bodies and their problem areas.
19.2 MEANING AND NATURE OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
Local Government or Local Self-Government is the Government of a
locality. It is not the area of the State Government. It ik,an
autonomous unit like the State or Central Government. It is the
local will, not tlie will of the Centre or State, which is
reflected through the Local Government. National Government is for
the whole nation; hence it is big Government. By contrast, Local
Government looks after the 'local' functions like water supply,
local streets, garbage collection and disposal and similar other
local heeds. It is small but important Government for a local area,
which can be a town or a group of villages.
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The adjective 'local' stands for a small geographical area.
Also, it means intimate Municipal Administration social relations
of the people in a limited geographical space. The other word,
'Government' stands for a public authority. In a democracy,
Government may be at national level, state level and the Regional
Government at the regional level. Below the regional level, there
is the 'local' level where 'Government' can be legally constituted.
This means, there are many Local Government units below the
National and Regional Governments, which exercise authority and
discharge a number of important local functions on the basis of
statutory decentralisation.
r Local Self-Government lias three important features: a) it is
elected by the people of tlie local area;
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I b) it has the power to levy taxes and other fees, like any
other Government; and c) its functions and activities are clearly
laid down in law so that within the scheme
of legislation Local Self-Government enjoys a degree of
autonomy. Thus, the Local Self-Government is a statutorily
constituted democratic Government with a degree of autonomy
exercising jurisdiction over a limited geographical area. The Local
Self-Government in a liberal democracy marks for decentralisation
of power. So, it is considered as a means of enriching and
deepening democracy by extending freedom of action to many
localities. It was the view of John Stuart Mill that Local
Government creates conditions for popular participation in
governance, and in this process the system has great educative
value for good citizenship in a country.
Forms of Local Self-Government
There are two common forms of Local Self-Government, that is
Urban Local Self- Government and Rural Local Self-Government. We
have Panchayati Raj Institution in the rural areas. In the urban
areas - in the cities and towns -there are Municipal Corporations
and Municipalities. According to the 74th Constitutional Amendment
tlie Urban- Local Self-Government has been classified into three
types, that is, Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council and
Municipal Committee.
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19.3 URBANISATION IN INDIA An urban area is one, which is
formally so declared through the statutory establishment in that
area of a municipal body, a notified area or a cantonment by a
definite legislation. Thus, there are Municipal Acts in different
States under which municipal bodies are set-up by tlie State
Governments in specific areas. Cantonment areas are governed by the
Central legislation. There can be other areas also that can be
declared as 'urban' by the census authorities.
Tlie urban population, which was around 3 per cent at the
beginning of the 19~" I
century rose to about 10 per cent by the beginning of the 20"'
century. Between 1901 and 1921 urban population grew very slowly
that is, it rose from 25.6 million to 27.6 million and between 1921
and 1941 population rose to 43.5 million. But after 1941, the
growth rate gained greater momentum adding to its urban population.
From 1961 onwards there has been a dramatic increase in the urban
population of the country. In 1961 the urban population stood at
77.5 millions and by 1981 it had more than doubled to make it 109.6
million constituting about 23.7 per cent of India's total
population. On the basis of census calculation it can be said that
India's urban population has been rising steadily. In 1971 total
urban population in India stood at 109.1 1 million, which rose to
159.46 million in 1981, and 218 million in 199 1. During 197 1-8 1
decade India's urban population increased approximately 5 inillion
per annum, or at an average annual growth rate of 3.87 per cent
compared to the growth rate of 1.78 per cent for the rural
population. In 1991 census, country's total urban population stood
at 217.18 inillion and the average annual growth rate between
1981-9.1 was 3.09 per cent. Between 1988 and 2001 the
projections
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Field and Local Administration
estimate India's urban population to become almost double and
from 2001 to 2021 it is expected to double again taking the urban
population to more than 600 millions.
India recorded a population of 1,027,O 15,247 on 1" March 200 1.
?he data indicates that 72.2 per cent persons were recorded in
rural areas and remaining 27.8 per cent in urban areas. Urban
population growth is supposed to be an indicator of general
economic development. Delhi is the most Urbanized State in India
with over 93per cent of its population being Urban. Amongst the
other major States, the 'most urbanized is Tamil Nadu with 43.86
per cent urban population. Maharashtra has the maximum urban
population but is the second most urbanized State with 42.40 per
cent Urban Population. Uttar Pradesh contributing nearly 2lper cent
to the State's total population, but in terms of urbanisation it
ranks twenty fifth in the list. Gujarat is third most urbanized
State having 37.35 per cent urban population. The Himachal Pradesh
is least urbanized (most Rural) State having 9.79 per cent followed
by Bihar 10.47 per cent and Sikkim 1 1.1 per cent.
In India, lack of employment opportunities in the rural areas
has led to city-ward migration of large rural population, which is
commonly known as the 'push' factor of urbanisation. The migrants
generally choose to settle in large cities where, as a consequence,
population increase is not matched by planned infrastructure
development. Roads, water supply, housing, drainage and sewerage,
transportation facilities - all suffer from short supply in the
face of mounting population pressure. Our large cities like
Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi etc. are all having large slum
population and there is chronic shortage of essential civic
services and facilities in these cities.
There has been a notion that India is an over-urbanized State,
because of their substantial increase in population over the years.
This thesis is advanced on the ground that there is a mismatch
between the levelsi of industrialization and urbanisation. The
process of urbanisation is costly and impinges upon the economic
growth. The State of infrastructure is poor and is not in a
position to take the growing urban pressure.
19.4 SEVENTYrFOURTH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Far reaching changes have been brought about for both Municipal
Government and Panchayati Raj Institutions through the two
Constitutional Amendments: the Seventy-third (73rd) Constitutional
Amendment Act, 1992 for Panchayati Raj, and the Seventy-fourth ( ~
4 ' ~ ) Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 for Municipal
Bodies.
The Constitution of India now provides for the constitution of
three. types of institutions of Urban Local Self-Government. These
are Municipal Corporations in larger urban areas, Municipal
Councils in urban settlements, and Nagar Panchayats in
'transitional' areas, which are neither fully urban nor fully
rural. In addition, it provides for decentralisation of municipal
administration by constituting Ward Committees in territorial areas
of such municipalities, which have more than three- lakh
population.
Composition
The Municipal authorities are to be constituted of: the elected
representatives who are to be elected from the different electoral
wards;
, the Members of the House of the People and the Legislative
Assembly of the State representing constituencies, which are wholly
or partly under the municipal area; .
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the members of the Council of States and the Sate Legislative
Council who are registered as electors within the municipal
area;
i chairpersons of the Committees of the municipal authorities;
and persons having special knowledge or experience in municipal
administration (without right to vote).
The Ward Committees are to be composed of members of the
Municipal Council representing the wards within the jurisdiction
and one of the elected representatives from within the wards is to
be appointed as its Chairperson. But the constitution gives
discretion to the State Government to decide the composition.
Another important provision of the Constitution Amendment
pertains to the municipal authorities, right to exist. It gives a
term of five years, to the municipalities and if at all they have
to be dissolved, they must be given an opportunity of being heard.
Even if they have to be dissolved because of any irregularity,
fresh elections are to be held within six months. This prevents the
phenomenon of prolonged supersession or years together.
Empowerment of weaker sections of society and women is one of
the substantive provisions of the Constitution Amendment. With a
view to empowering the scheduled castes and tribes as well as
women, it provides for the reservation of seats in the Council.
Besides such reservations, the most important provision of the
Constitution Amendment is empowerment of women for which one-third
of the total seats are to be reserved. @
To keep the municipal elections out of the direct control of the
State Government, and to ensure free and fair elections to the
municipal bodies, the Consti,tution Amendment has provided for an
independent State Election Commission (also for Panchayat
elections), consisting of an Election Commissioner to be appointed
by the Governor.
The most important feature of the Seventy-Fourth Constitutional
Amendment, in financial sphere, in the mandatory constitution of
Finance Commission by the State Government is once in every five
years. The State Finance Commission is to make recommendations
regarding the principles to govern sharing of the State taxes, fees
etc. between the State Government and the Municipalities; and also
its distribution among the Municipalities. The commission has also
to suggest the principles for the determination of taxes and fees
to be assigned to them and the grants-in-aid to be given to the
municipal authorities out of the consolidated fund of the State. It
also has the mandate to suggest ways and means of improving the
financial position of the municipal authorities.
Moreover, the need for non-plan funds of the Municipalities is
now to be looked by the Union Finance Commission as well. Federal
transfers will now be available also for the municipal authorities.
This is an amendment of far reaching importance.
The Constitution Amendment provides for setting up of the
District Planning Committees to consolidate the plans prepared by
the Municipalifies and the Panchayats within the district; and to
prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole. The
Municipalities are to be represented on it. Plans so prepared are
to be forwarded by the Chairperson of the Planning Committee to the
State Government. Similarly, Metropolitan Planning Committees are
to be set up in the metropolitan areas on which the municipal
authorities are to be represented.
Municipal Administration
The 74"' Constitution Amendment is a landmark legislation that,
for the first time, accords constitutional status to Municipal
Government and provides for broader social participation in local
councils, people's involvement in civic development, enlargement of
functional domain by inserting the Twelfth Schedule, continuity
through regular elections and regular funds flow from the higher
level Governments. The other important dimension is constitutions!
recoy~itiori of micro-levcl planning
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Field and Local coordinated by the District Planning Committee.
These are the brighter aspects of Administration the Amendment.
There are, however, the grayer areas as well. It has missed a
valuable opportunity to specify the functions and also the sources
of local revenues. This wouldhave prevented the State encroachment
into these spheres.
19.5 URBAN LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT Following the 74"'
Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 Urban Local Self- Government in
India has been classified into three types - Municipal
Corporations, Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. We are familiar
with the names of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Delhi
Municipal Corporation and similar other Corporations in our big
cities. In the small and medium towns, there are Municipalities
that are sometimes called Municipal Boards or Municipal Committees.
Where a place is neither fully rural or fully urban, and it is
going through a process of urbanisation because of
industrialisation or location of big development projects, a
notified area committee or a town committee used to be set up as an
interim measure. Under the 741h Constitutional Amendment a Nagar
Panchayat shall be set up in such 'transitional areas'. Indeed, an
urban area, irrespective of its size, needs a local Government for
the provision of civic services and facilities such as water
supply, garbage clearance, construction and maintenance of roads.
These are some of the important services that an Urban Government
has to provide to sustain civic life in an area. The Municipal
Corporation, Municipal Council and Municipal Committee as per the
size of the atea provides these services.
.i) Municipal Corporation The administration of civic affair? in
a city is a challenge. The distinct characteristic of a city is the
huge concentration of population within a limited area. The
management of civil services therefore, requires an effective
organisational structure, adequate finance and efficient personnel.
The Municipal Corporation as a form of city Government occupies the
top position among the local authorities in India. Normally, the
Corporation form of urban Government is found in major cities like
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, etc.
Municipal Corporation is established through a special statue,
which is passed by the State legislature. In case of Union
Territories, they are established through Acts passed by the
Parliament. Such legislation may be enacted specially for a
particular corporation or for all Corporations in a State, for
example the Mumbai and Kolkata Corporations were established
through separate legislation. Whereas in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh, the State level legislation governs the constitution and
working of the Corporation. The Municipal Corporation generally
enjoy a greater measure of autonomy than other forms of local
Government. In almost all the States, the Municipal Corporations
have been assigned numerous functions such as supply of drinking
water, electricity, road transport services, public health,
education, registration of births and deaths, drainage,
construction of public parks, gardens, libraries, etc. These
functions are normally divided as obligatory and discretionary.
In Haryana, there is only one Municipal Corporation (MC) that is
in Faridabad with more than 5 lakhs population. MC is constituted
for governing the area. It has both elected and nominated
(ex-officio) members. MC, Faridabad has at present 24 elected
Councilors. Under the amended municipal law of the State, election
to the municipal bodies must take place every five years, unless a
municipal body is dissolved earlier. The Mayor elected by the
members of the Corporation from amongst themselves is the first
citizen of the city and presides over the meetings of the city
Corporation.