Municipal Corporations
- 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 the 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 the 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 recommendations made by the Municipal Commissioner.
- The Municipal Commissioner is the chief executive and implements the decisions taken by the council.
- Municipal Corporations in India are generally structured on the pattern of the 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.
Ward committee
- A ward committee supervises the 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.,
The mayor
- The mayor presides over council meetings, guides its deliberations to maintain decorum and excludes any objectionable portion from the record of the proceedings of the council.
- A Municipal Corporation shall have a Standing Committee constituted by it, consisting of the Mayor, the senior deputy Mayor and other councillors elected by the councillors of the Corporation from amongst the members.
- The mayor shall be the chairperson of the Standing Committee.
Functions:
- 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 the 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 areas.
- 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.
- Mayors in some states are directly elected by all the voters within the metro city.
- In some states, Mayor is elected from amongst the elected councillors.
- 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
- The Municipal Commissioner is the chief executive officer of the Corporation.
- Normally the commissioner is 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.