Local Government - Indian Polity Questions and Answers

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

Types of Municipalities -

Article 243 Q - There would be three types of municipalities in every state -

a) A nagar panchayat (by whatever name called) for a transitional area, that is, an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area.

b) A municipal council for a smaller urban area.

c) A municipal corporation for a larger urban area.

Composition -


• All seats of a municipality shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from the territorial constituencies in the Municipal area and for this purpose each Municipal area shall be divided into territorial constituencies to be known as wards.


• The state legislature may provide the manner of election of the chairperson of a municipality.

It may also provide for the representation of the following persons in a municipality -

a) Persons having special knowledge or experience in municipal administration without the right to vote in the meetings of municipality.

b) The members of the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly representing constituencies that comprise wholly or partly the municipal area.

c) The members of the Rajya Sabha and the State Legislative Council registered as electors within the municipal area.

d) The chairpersons of committees other than wards committees.

Wards Committees -


• There shall be constituted a wards committee, consisting of one or more wards, within the territorial area of a municipality having population of three lakhs or more.

The state legislature may make provision with respect to -

a) the composition and the territorial area of a wards committee; and

b) the manner in which the seats in a wards committee shall be filled.


• State Legislature may also make any provision for the Constitution of committees in addition to the wards committees.

Reservation of Seats -


• Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in every Municipality and the number of seats so reserved shall be in proportion of their population to the total population in the municipal area.


• 1/3^rd of the total number of seats would be reserved for women (including the number of seats reserved for woman belonging to the SCs and the STs).


• This can be allotted in rotational basis.


• The offices of Chairpersons in the Municipalities shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the Legislature of a State may prescribe.


• The legislature may also make any provision for the reservation of seats in any municipality or offices of chairpersons in municipalities in favor of backward class of citizens.


• Duration of Municipalities (Article 243U); Disqualifications (Article 243V); State election commission (Article 243ZA); Powers and Functions (Article 243W); Finances (Article 243X); Finance Commission (Article 243Y); Audit of Accounts (Article 243Z); Application to Union territories (Article 243ZB); Exempted areas (Article 243C); District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD); Metropolitan Planning Committee (Article 243ZE); Continuance of Existing law (Article 243ZF) and Bar to interference by courts (Article 243G) is similar to the Panchayats.

ANSWER: 2, 3

Explanation:

District Planning Committee -


• Every state shall constitute at the district level, a district planning committee.


• It will consolidate the plans prepared by panchayats and municipalities in the district, and prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole.

The state legislature may make provisions with respect to -

a) The composition of such committees.

b) The manner of election of members.

c) The functions of such committees in relation to district planning.

d) The manner of the election of the chairpersons of such committees.


• 4/5^th of the members of a district planning committee should be elected by the elected members of the Panchayat at district level and municipalities in the district from amongst themselves.


• These members in the committee should be in proportion to the ratio between the rural and urban populations in the district.


• The chairperson of this committee shall forward the development plan to the government of state.

A district planning committee in preparing the draft development plan, shall -

a) have regard to matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including spatial planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, the integrated development of infrastructure and environmental conservation;

b) have regard to the extent and type of available resources whether financial or otherwise; and

c) have regard to consult such institutions and organizations as the Governor may specify.

Metropolitan Planning Committee -


• Every metropolitan area shall have a metropolitan planning committee to prepare a draft development plan for Metropolitan area as a whole.

The state legislature may make provisions with respect to the following -

a) The composition of such committees.

b) The manner of election of members of such committees.

c) The representation in such committees of the Central government, state government and other organizations.

d) The functions of such committees in relation to planning and coordination for the metropolitan area.

e) The manner of election of chairpersons of such committees.


• 2/3^rd of the members of a metropolitan planning committee should be elected by the elected members of the municipalities and chairpersons of the panchayats in the metropolitan area from amongst themselves.


• These members in the committee should be in proportion to the ratio between the population of the municipalities and the panchayats in that metropolitan area.


• The chairpersons of such committees shall forward the development plan to the government of state.

A metropolitan planning committee in preparing the draft development plan, shall -

a) have regards to the plans prepared by the Municipalities and the Panchayats in the Metropolitan area;

b) have regards to matters of common interest between the Municipalities and the Panchayats, including coordinated spatial planning of the area, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, the integrated development of infrastructure and environmental conservation;

c) have regards to the overall objectives and priorities set by the Government of India and the government of the state;

d) have regards to the extent and nature of investments likely to be made in the Metropolitan area by agencies of the Government of India and of the Government of the State and other available resources whether financial or otherwise; and

e) have regards to consult such institutions and organizations as the Governor may specify.

ANSWER: 1954

Explanation:

Central Council of Local Government -


• The Central Council of Local Government was set up in 1954.


• It was established under Article 263 of the Constitution of India by an order of the President of India.


• The original name was Central Council of Local Self-Government.


• In 1980’s ‘self-government’ was replaced by the term ‘government’.


• Till 1958, it dealt with both urban as well as rural local governments.


• After 1958 it has been dealing with matters of urban local government only.


• The Council is an advisory body.


• It consists of the Minister for Urban Development in the Government of India and the ministers for local self government in states.


• The Union minister acts as the Chairman of the Council.

The Council performs the following functions with regard to local government -

1. Making proposals for legislation.

2. Examining the possibility of cooperation between the Centre and the states.

3. Considering and recommending the policy matters.

4. Drawing up a common programme of action.

5. Reviewing the work done by the local bodies with the Central financial assistance.

6. Recommending Central financial assistance.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

Municipal Corporation -


• Municipal corporations are established for administration of big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad etc.


• They are established in the states by the acts of State Legislatures, and in the union territories by the acts of the Parliament.


• There may be one common acts or separate acts for all the municipal corporations in a state.


• A municipal corporation has three authorities - the council, the standing committees and the municipal commissioner.


• The Council is the deliberative and legislative wing and consists of the Councilors directly elected by the people.


• They also have few nominated persons having knowledge or experience of municipal administration.


• The Council is headed by a Mayor and assisted by Deputy Mayor.


• Mayor is elected in a majority of the states for a one-year renewable term.


• He is basically a formal head of the corporation.


• His main function is to preside over the meetings of the Council.


• The standing committees are created to facilitate the working of the council, which is too large in size.


• They deal with public works, education, health, taxation, finance etc,. and take decisions in their fields.


• The municipal commissioner implements the decisions taken by the council and its standing committees.


• He is the chief executive authority of the corporation.


• He is appointed by the state government and is mostly a member of the IAS.

Municipality -


• Municipalities are established for administration of towns and smaller cities.


• They are set up in the states by the acts of state legislatures and in the union territory by the acts of the Parliament of India.


• They are also known by various other names like municipal council, municipal committee, municipal board, borough municipality, city municipality and others.


• A municipality has three authorities - the council, the standing committees and the chief executive officer.


• The council is the deliberative and legislative wing of the municipality.


• It consists of the councilors directly elected by the people.


• The council is headed by a president/chairman and is assisted by a Vice-President/Vice-Chairman.


• Apart from presiding over the meetings of the Council, he enjoys executive powers.


• The standing committees are created to facilitate the working of the council.


• They deal with public works, taxation, health, finance etc.


• The chief executive officer/chief municipal officer is responsible for day-to-day general administration of the municipality.


• He is appointed by the state government.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4 and 5

Explanation:

Notified Area Committee -

A notified area committee is established for the administration of two types of areas -

1. a fast developing town due to industrialization; and

2. a town which does not yet fulfil all the conditions necessary for the constitution of a municipality, but which otherwise is considered important by the state government.


• It is called as notified area committee as it is established by a notification in the government gazette.


• Even though it functions within the framework of the State Municipal Act, only those provisions which are notified in the government gazette by which it is created apply to it.


• It may also be entrusted to exercise powers under any other act.


• Its powers are almost equivalent to those of a municipality but it is an entirely nominated body, (nominated by the state government).


• It is neither elected nor a statutory body.

Cantonment Board -


• A cantonment board is for municipal administration for civilian population in the cantonment area.


• A cantonment area is a delimited area where the military forces are permanently stationed.


• It is set up under Cantonments Act of 2006 - enacted by the Central Government.


• It works under the administrative control of the Defense ministry of Central Government.


• A cantonment board is created and administered by the Central government.


• The Cantonments Act of 2006 was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of cantonments.


• This Act repealed the Cantonments Act of 1924.


• At present, there are 62 cantonment boards in the country grouped into 4 categories based on civil population.


• A cantonment board is partly elected and partly nominated.


• Elected members hold office for a term of five years while the nominated members (i.e., ex-officio members) continue so long as they hold the office in that station.


• The military officer commanding the station is the ex-officio president of the board and presides over its meetings.


• The Vice-President of the board is elected by the elected members from amongst themselves for a term of five years.


• Functions performed by a cantonment board are similar to that of a municipality and are classified as obligatory and discretionary functions.


• The sources of income are tax and non-tax revenue.


• The executive officer of the cantonment board is appointed by the President of India.


• He implements all the resolutions and decisions of the board and its committees.


• He belongs to the central cadre established for this purpose.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

The following eight types of urban local bodies are created in India for the administration of urban areas -

1. Municipal Corporation.

2. Municipality.

3. Notified Area Committee.

4. Town Area Committee.

5. Cantonment Board.

6. Township.

7. Port Trust.

8. Special Purpose Agency.

Special purpose Agency -


• First seven are area based.


• The states have set up Special Purpose Agencies to undertake designated activities or specific functions.


• These functions actually belong to the domain of municipal corporations or municipalities or other local urban governments.


• Thus these are function-based agencies and are known as ‘single purpose’, ‘uni-purpose’ or ‘special purpose’ agencies or ‘functional local bodies’.

Some of them are -

1. Town improvement trusts.

2. Urban development authorities.

3. Water supply and sewerage boards.

4. Housing boards.

5. Pollution control boards.

6. Electricity supply boards.

7. City transport boards.

8. BEST buses, PMPML buses etc.


• These are statutory bodies or they can be formed as departments by an executive resolution.


• They function as autonomously, performing functions allotted to them independently of the local urban governments.


• Hence they are not subordinate agencies of the local municipal bodies.

Town Area Committee -


• Town area committee is set up for administering a small town.


• It is a semi-municipal authority.


• It is entrusted with a limited number of civic functions like drainage, roads, street lighting etc.


• They are created by a separate act of a state legislature.


• The act governs its composition, functions and other matters.


• They may be wholly or partly elected or wholly or partly nominated by the state government.

Township -


• They are established by large public enterprises to provide civic amenities to its staff and workers.


• The staff is generally living in the housing colonies built near the plant.


• The enterprise appoints a town administrator who looks after the administration of the township.


• The town administrator is assisted by some engineers and other technical and non-technical staff.


• It doesn’t have elected members.


• It can be thought of as an extension of the bureaucratic structure of the enterprises.

Port Trust -


• They are established in port areas like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai etc.

They are to -

1. to manage and protect the ports; and

2. to provide civic amenities.


• A port trust is created by an Act of Parliament and has both elected and nominated members.


• Its chairman is an official and its civic functions are similar to those of a municipality.

ANSWER: Madras

Explanation:

• ‘Urban Local Government’ in India means the governance of a specific urban area, demarcated for this purpose by the state government, by the people through their elected representatives.


• There are 8 types of urban local governments in India.


• 74^th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 constitutionalised the system of urban government.

At the Central level, ‘urban local government’ is dealt by -

1. Ministry of Urban Development (created as a separate ministry in 1985).

2. Ministry of Defense (in the case of cantonment boards).

3. Ministry of Home Affairs (in the case of Union Territories).

Evolution of urban local bodies -


• It was during the British rule that the institutions of urban local government originated and developed in modern India.


• 1687-88 - First municipal corporation in India was set up at Madras.


• 1726 - Municipal corporations were set up in Bombay and Calcutta.


• 1870 - Lord Mayo’s Resolution of 1870 on ‘financial decentralization’ envisaged development of local self-government institutions.


• 1882 - Lord Ripon’s Resolution of 1882 was hailed as the ‘Magna Carta’ of local self-government.


• He is called as the father of local-self-government in India.


• 1907 - The Royal Commission on decentralization was appointed in 1907.


• It submitted its report in 1909. Its chairman was Hob house.


• 1919 - Under the dyarchical scheme introduced in Provinces by the Government of India Act of 1919, local self-government became a transferred subject under the charge of a responsible Indian minister.


• 1924 - The Cantonments Act was passed by the Central Legislature.


• 1935 - Government of India Act of 1935 introduced provincial autonomy scheme. The local self-government was declared a provincial subject.


• 1989 - In August 1989, the Rajiv Gandhi government introduced the 65^th Constitutional Amendment Bill (i.e., Nagarpalika Bill) in the Lok Sabha but it was defeated in Rajya Sabha.


• 1990 - The National Front Government under V P Singh introduced the bill but it lapsed due to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.


• 1991 - P. V. Narasimha Rao’s Government introduced the modified Municipalities Bill in the Lok Sabha in 1991.


• It finally came out as the 74^th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.


• It came into force on 1 June 1993.

Significance of the 74^th Amendment Act of 1992 -


• This Act added a new Part 9-A to the Constitution of India entitled ‘The Municipalities’ giving constitutional status to municipalities.


• It has provisions from Articles 243-P to 243-ZG.


• It also added a new Twelfth Schedule to the Constitution containing 18 functional items of municipalities.


• 12^th Schedule deals with Article 243-W.


• It made them justiciable part of the Constitution.


• The act wanted to revitalize and strengthen the urban governments and make them function effectively as units of local government.

ANSWER: 1, 2, 3, 5

Explanation:

• Twelfth Schedule contains 18 functional items which are placed under the ambit of Municipalities.

They are -

1. Urban planning including town planning.

2. Regulation of land use and construction of buildings.

3. Planning for economic and social development.

4. Roads and bridges.

5. Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes.

6. Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management.

7. Fire services.

8. Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects.

9. Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society, including the handicapped and mentally retarded.

10. Slum improvement and upgradation.

11. Urban poverty alleviation.

12. Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens, playgrounds.

13. Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects.

14. Burials and burial grounds, cremations and cremation grounds and electric crematoriums.

15. Cattle ponds, prevention of cruelty to animals.

16. Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths.

17. Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences.

18. Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries.

ANSWER: Intermediate Level Panchayat

Explanation:

• There are various names to the Panchayat bodies (at all three levels) all over India.


• All over India there is a 3-tier structure.


• Few states have some special councils too.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

Features/provisions) of the PESA Act, 1996 are -

a) A State legislation on the Panchayats that may be made shall be in consonance with the customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management practices of community resources.

b) A village shall ordinarily consist of a habitation or a group of habitations or a hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising a community and managing its affairs in accordance with traditions and customs.

c) Every village shall have a Gram Sabha consisting of persons whose names are included in the electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level.

d) Every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution.

e) Every Gram Sabha shall -

1. approve of the plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before such plans, programmes and projects are taken up for implementation by the Panchayat at the village level;

2. be responsible for the identification or selection of persons as beneficiaries under the poverty alleviation and other programmes;

f) Every Panchayat at the village level shall be required to obtain from the Gram Sabha a certification of utilisation of funds by that Panchayat for the plans, programmes and projects referred to in clause(e).

g) The reservation of seats in the Scheduled Areas at every Panchayat shall be in proportion to the population of the communities in that Panchayat for whom reservation is sought to be given under Part IX of the Constitution; Provided that the reservation for the Scheduled Tribes shall not be less than one-half of the total number of seats; Provided further that all seats of Chairpersons of Panchayats at all levels shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.

h) The State Government may nominate persons belonging to such Scheduled Tribes as have no representation in the Panchayat at the intermediate level or the Panchayat at the district level; Provided that such nomination shall not exceed one-tenth of the total members to be elected in that Panchayat.

i) The Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be consulted before making the acquisition of land in the Scheduled Areas for development projects and before resettling or rehabilitating persons affected by such projects in the Scheduled Areas; the actual planning and implementation of the projects in the Scheduled Areas shall be coordinated at the State level.

j) Planning and management of minor water bodies in the Scheduled Areas shall be entrusted to Panchayats at the appropriate level.

k) The recommendations of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be made mandatory prior to grant of prospecting license or mining lease for minor minerals in the Scheduled Areas.

l) The prior recommendation of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be made mandatory for grant of concession for the exploitation of minor minerals by auction.

m) While endowing Panchayats in the Scheduled Areas with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, a State Legislature shall ensure that the Panchayats at the appropriate level and the Gram Sabha are endowed specifically with -

1. the power to enforce prohibition or to regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant;

2. the ownership of minor forest produce;

3. the power to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled Areas and to take appropriate action to restore any unlawfully alienated land of a Scheduled Tribe;

4. the power to manage village markets by whatever name called;

5. the power to exercise control over money lending to the Scheduled Tribes;

6. the power to exercise control over institutions and functionaries in all social sectors;

7. the power to control over local plans and resources for such plans including tribal sub-plans.

n) The State Legislations that may endow Panchayats with powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, shall contain safeguards to ensure that Panchayats at the higher level do not assume the powers and authority of any Panchayat at the lower level or of the Gram Sabha.

o) The State Legislature shall endeavour to follow the pattern of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution while designing the administrative arrangements in the Panchayats at district levels in the Scheduled Areas.

p) At the expiry of one year from the date on which this Act receives the assent of the President, any provision of any law (relating to Panchayats in the Scheduled Areas) which is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act shall cease to be in force.

q) But, all the Panchayats existing immediately before such date shall continue till the expiration of their duration unless sooner dissolved by state legislature.