Urban Local Government

Urban Local government implies the governance of an

urban area by the people through their elected
representatives. 74th Constitutional Amendment Act,
1992 provided constitutional status to local urban bodies.

74th Constitutional Amendment

This act added a new part IX-A to the Constitution
entitled as ‘The Municipalities’ and a new Twelfth
Schedule containing 18 functional items for
municipalities. The main provisions of this Act can be
grouped under two categories–compulsory and
voluntary. Some of the compulsory provisions which are
binding on all States are:

1. Constitution of Nagar panchayats, municipal councils

and municipal corporations in transitional areas (areas
in transition from a rural area to urban area), smaller urban
areas and larger urban areas respectively;
2. Reservation of seats in urban local bodies for
Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes roughly in
proportion to their population;
3. Reservation of seats for women up to one-third seats;
4. The State Election Commission, constituted in order to
conduct elections in the panchayati raj bodies (see 73rd
 Amendment) will also conduct elections to the urban local
self- governing bodies;
5. The State Finance Commission, constituted to deal with
financial affairs of the Panchayati Raj bodies will also look
into the financial affairs of the local urban self governing
bodies;
6. Tenure of urban local self-governing bodies is fixed at
five years and in case of earlier dissolution fresh elections
are to be held within six months;

Some of the voluntary provisions which are not binding,

but are expected to be observed by the States are:

1. Giving representation to members of the Union and State

Legislatures in these bodies;
2. Providing reservation for backward classes;
3. Giving financial powers in relation to taxes, duties, tolls
and fees etc;
4. Making the municipal bodies autonomous and devolution
of powers to these bodies to perform some or all of the
functions enumerated in the Twelfth Schedule added to
the Constitution through this Act and/or to prepare plans
for economic development.
 In accordance with the 74th Amendment, municipal
corporations and municipalities (municipal boards or
municipal committees) are now regulated in a fairly
uniform manner in all the States. However, one must
remember that local self-government continues to be a
subject in the State List.

Thus, the 73rd and 74th amendments provide a

framework for the States in respect of local government.
Thus, each State has its own Election Commission
which conducts elections to all local bodies after regular
intervals of five years.

Each State has its Finance Commission to regulate

finances of the local bodies. Seats are reserved in the
corporations and municipalities for Scheduled Castes
and Tribes. One-third seats are reserved for women in
all local bodies – urban and rural.

Composition
The Municipal bodies are constituted of persons chosen
by direct election from the territorial constituencies
(known as wards) in the municipal area.

However, the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide

for the representation in a municipal body of persons
having special knowledge or experience of municipal
 administration, the members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha
and the members of Legislative Council and Legislative
Assembly of the State, representing constituencies,
which comprise wholly or partly the Municipal Area.The
state legislature may also provide the manner of the
election of the Chairpersons of a municipality.

The state legislature may also provide the manner of the

election of the Chairpersons of a municipality.

Empowerment of weaker sections of society and women

by reserving seats for such groups is one of the
important constitutional provisions of the Constitutional
Amendment.

The offices of chairperson are also reserved for SC/ST

and women. Thus, at least one year, out of five year
duration of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the office of
Mayor is reserved for a woman, and for one year is
reserved for a Councillor of Scheduled Caste. It gives a
term of five years to the municipalities and if any of them
is to be dissolved, it must be given an opportunity of
being heard.

Functions of Urban Local Bodies

It is a common practice to divide the organisation of a
corporation or a municipality into two parts:
(a) deliberative and (b) executive part

The corporation, council or municipal board or council

consisting of the elected representatives of the people
constitutes the deliberative part. It acts like a legislature.

It discusses and debates on general municipal policies

and performance, passes the budget of the urban local
body, frames broad policies relating to taxation,
resources raising, pricing of services and other aspects
of municipal administration.

It keeps an eye on municipal administration and holds

the executive accountable for what is done or not done.
For instance, if water supply is not being properly
managed, or there is an outbreak of an epidemic, the
deliberative wing criticises the role of the administration
and suggests measures for improvement.

The executive part of municipal administration is looked

after by the municipal officers and other permanent
employees. In the corporations, the Municipal
Commissioner is the executive head, and all other
departmental officers like engineers, finance officers,
health officers etc. function under his/her control and
supervision.
In a large corporation, such as Delhi or Mumbai
Municipal Corporation, the Commissioner is usually a
senior IAS officer. In municipalities, the executive officer
holds a similar position and looks after the overall
administration of a municipality.

Municipal functions are generally classified into

obligatory and discretionary types.

The obligatory (compulsory) functions are those that the

municipal body must perform. In this category fall such
functions as water supply; construction and maintenance
of roads, streets, bridges, subways and other public
works, street lighting; drainage and sewerage; garbage
collection and disposal; prevention and control of
epidemics.

Some other obligatory functions are public vaccination

and inoculation; maintenance of hospitals and
dispensaries including maternity and child welfare
centres; checking food adulteration; removal of slums;
supply of electricity; maintenance of cremation and burial
grounds; and town planning. In some States some of
these functions may be taken over by State
Government.
 The discretionary functions are those that a municipal
body may take up if funds permit. These are given less
priority. Some of the discretionary functions are
construction and maintenance of rescue homes and
orphanages, housing for low income groups, organising
public receptions, provision of treatment facilities, etc.

Type of urban governments

There are eight types of urban governments in India.

1. Municipal Corporation: Municipal corporations are

created for the administration of big cities like Delhi,
Mumbai, Hyderabad and others. A Municipal Corporation
has three authorities namely, the council (legislative wing
of the corporation), the standing committee (to facilitate
the working of the council) and the commissioner (chief
executive authority of the corporation).The council consist
of councillors directly elected by people and is headed by
a Mayor while the Commissioner is appointed by state
government and is generally an IAS officer.
2. Municipality: The municipalities are established for the
administration of towns and smaller cities. They are known
by various other names like municipal council, municipal
committee, municipal board, borough municipality, city
municipality and others. In composition they are quite
similar to municipal corporations except that head of
 council is called President /chairman and in place of
commissioner they have a chief executive officer/chief
municipal officer.
3. Notified Area Committee: A notified area committee is
created for the administration of two types of areas- a fast
developing town due to industrialisation, and a town which
does not yet fulfill all the conditions necessary for the
constitution of a municipality, but which otherwise is
considered important by the state government. It is called
so because it is created by a notification and unlike the
municipality it is an entirely nominated body, i.e. all
members, including the Chairman, are nominated by the
state government. Thus, it is neither a statutory body
(created by law) nor an elected body.
4. Town Area Committee: It is set up by a separate act of
state legislature for the administration of a small town. It is
a semi-municipal authority entrusted with limited number
of civic functions. It may be wholly elected or wholly
nominated or partly elected and partly nominated as
provided by state government.
5. Cantonment Board: It is established for municipal
administration for civilian population in the cantonment
areas (area where military forces and troops are
permanently stationed). It is set up under the provisions of
the Cantonment Act, 2006 by central government and
works under Defence ministry of central government. It is
 partly elected and partly nominated body having the
Military officer commanding the station as its ex-officio
President. Vice president is elected amongst by the
elected members of board. The executive officer of the
cantonment board is appointed by the President of India.,
6. Township: It is established by large public enterprises to
provide civic amenities to its staff and workers, who live in
the housing colonies built near the plant. It is not an
elected body and all members, including the town
administrator, is appointed by the enterprise itself.
7. Port Trust: The port trusts are established in the port
areas like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and so on for two
purposes: (a) to manage and protect the ports; (b) to
provide civic amenities. It is created by an Act of
Parliament and it consists of both elected and nominated
members.
8. Special Purpose Agency: The states have set up certain
agencies to undertake designated activities or specific
functions that legitimately belong to the domain of
municipal corporations, municipalities or other local urban
governments. In other words, these are function based,
not area based. They are known as ‘single purpose’,
‘uni-purpose’ or ‘special purpose’ or ‘functional local
bodies’ like town improvement trust, housing boards,
pollution control boars etc. They are established as
statutory bodies by an act of state legislature or as
 departments by an executive resolution. They function as
an autonomous body and are not subordinate agencies to
local municipal bodies.

Problem areas of Municipal Bodies

1. Disqualifications of members of Municipal Bodies follow
in principle the practice followed in state legislature
disqualifications. But since it is governed by the state
legislature who can make laws regarding the same,it is not
consistent in all states and that leads to a lot of disparity
and non – security among members.
2. Election expenses and code of conduct to be better
regulated and more powers should be given to the State
election commission to do the same.
3. The Municipal Councils/ Municipalities have restricted
local autonomy as compared to the Municipal
Corporations; with more pervasive state control that often
climax in dissolution of the former.
4. Lack of Finance due to reluctance of the state and central
legislators not wanting to divest further taxation and grants
powers to them more than what they already have for fear
of loss of power. And the municipal bodies fear increasing
tax or asking for new tax collection options for loss of
popularity among people.
5. Local bodies are created by state governments and
therefore can be dissolved by them as well if not
dancing as per their tunes.
6. In addition to the above is the drawing of rural people
and other city people to a place where there is rapid
urbanization through industrialization. Law and order
becomes difficult to maintain, slums develop etc. leading
to additional problems for these already stressed out
urban local governance bodies.
7. In spite of many central and state committees sitting and
recommending better financial and administrative
autonomy for the Municipal bodies, there has been no
concrete effort from the legislator’s side to implement
the same.
8. The power now seems to have shifted from the state
governments to the financial institutions, international
donors and credit rating agencies. Finally, the capacity
of the government to generate employment directly
through anti-poverty programs would remain limited. Thus
anti-poverty programs should primarily be focused on
provision of basic amenities.
9. Lack of consistent and coherent urban development
policy, faulty and improper urban planning coupled with
poor implementation and regulation are big challenges for
municipalities.
10. Lack of proper monitoring system in place results in
inefficient and improper functioning of Local Urban Bodies.