Urban Local Government In India| Important Points

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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.

History of Urban Local Governments in India

In 1687-88, the first municipal corporation in India was set up at Madras.
In 1726, municipal corporations were set up in Bombay and Calcutta.
In 1882, Lord Ripon issued a resolution that has been hailed as the Magna Carta of Local self-government. He is called the father of local self-government in India.
In August 1989, the Rajiv Gandhi government introduced the 65th Constitutional Amendment Bill (i.e. Nagarpalika Bill) in the Lok Sabha but it was defeated in the Rajya Sabha and hence, lapsed.
The National Front Government under V P Singh introduced the revised Nagarpalika Bill in the Lok Sabha agaon in September in 1990. However, the bill was not passed and lapsed due to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

P V Narasimha Rao’s government also introduced the modified Municipalities Bill in the Lok Sabha in September in 1991. It finally emersed as the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 and came into force on 1 June 1993.

74th Constitutional Amendment: Urban Local Government

This act has added a new part IX-A to the Constitution of India and a new Twelfth Schedule containing 18 functional items for municipalities. It is entitled as ‘The Municipalities’ and consists of provisions from Article 243-P to 243-ZG. 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:

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;
Reservation of seats in urban local bodies for Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes roughly in proportion to their population;
Reservation of seats for women not less than one-third of the total seats;

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;
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;
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:

Giving representation to members of the Union and State Legislatures in these bodies;
Providing reservation for backward classes;
Giving financial powers in relation to taxes, duties, tolls and fees etc;

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: Urban Local Government

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.

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.

Functions of Urban Local Government

It is a common practice to divide the organisation of a corporation or a municipality into two parts:

(a) deliberative and (b) executive part

Deliberative Part: Urban Local Governments

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.

Executive Part: Urban Local Governments

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 Local Government

There are eight types of urban governments in India.

Municipal Corporation: Urban Local Governments

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.

Municipality: Urban Local Governments

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.

Notified Area Committee: Urban Local Governments

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.

Town Area Committee: Urban Local Governments

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.

Cantonment Board: Urban Local Governments

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.,

Township: Urban Local Governments

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.

Port Trust: Urban Local Governments

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.

Special Purpose Agency: Urban Local Governments

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 Urban Local Government

Various issues related to Urban Local Governments in India:

Financial condition: The first and most serious problem facing the urban local bodies is the acute scarcity of finance. City municipalities do not collect enough taxes. The Economic Survey of 2018 pointed out municipalities do not realise the full potential of property tax.
Excessive State Control: There is also strict control exercised by the state government over urban bodies. This proves to be more of a curse than a boon, because, instead of providing guidance and support through the control mechanism, the control turns out to be negative, restricting the functioning of these bodies.
Irregular Elections: Elections to urban bodies have suffered constant postponement for indefinite lengths of time. In some States, elections to urban local bodies have not been held for years, defeating the goal of decentralised governance.
Poor governance: The largest reason for the poor condition of India’s cities is the failure of municipal governance. There is a lack of planning and governance at the urban local body level.

Lack of management capacity: Indian municipalities do not have the management capacity to either plan economic activity or execute it. The system of recruitment fails to bring in the best men. Several vacancies are not filled for years and transfers are effected at the free will of the senior bureaucrats and the government.
Corruption: In these bodies corruption, favouritism and nepotism are rampant. In the case of most of the bodies, the state government is empowered to take disciplinary action and the urban body has very little control over its personnel.
Urban planning: Urban planning is done at the state government level and municipalities have little or no role in it. There is no direct responsibility for the consequences of planning as long as the municipality completes the plan. Poor planning, poor accountability, and poor governance have led to disasters.
Lack of coordination: Poor coordination among centre, state, and various departments at local level lead to poor implementation of urban policies. Inability to coordinate leads to administrative inefficiency and thus poor urban governance.

Measures to strengthen Urban Local Governments in India:

Greater autonomy: The urban local bodies should be given greater autonomy. India needs to follow a devolved model that empowers urban local bodies. Municipalities should be more autonomous in their functioning, so that they can deliver quality service.

Governance Reforms: Governance reform are needed as catalyst for change. The Government may consider the adoption of a common categorisation of urban bodies across the country so as to assist a systematic planning process and devolution of funds. All areas having population more than 10 lakh should be defined metropolitan areas.
Timely elections and recruitment: For strengthening ULBs, a minimum level of staffing should be provided in metropolitan areas. Elections to ULBs should not be, generally, delayed beyond six months.
Encouraging public-private partnership: Successful PPP programs should be formulated at both state and city levels to fund city development. Role of the state should be to create an enabling environment with an aim to expand and deepen private sector investments in infrastructure.
Planning: Government needs to coordinate at various levels with regard to implementation of various programmes. The urban local bodies should prioritise the development programmes. Any mega project envisaged needs to be developed taking into account the views of all the stakeholders.
Holistic approach: It is important to integrate various urban development and related programs at local, state and national levels to develop sustainable city or metropolitan regions. Urban institutions should be strengthened and roles of different organisations should be fixed.

Recent News: Urban Local Government

Goa becomes the 6th State to complete Urban Local Bodies (ULB) reforms.

Goa has joined five other States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan and Telangana, who have completed ULB reforms.

Background:

Reforms in ULBs and the urban utilities reforms are aimed at financial strenghtening of ULBs in the States and to enable them to provide better public health and sanitation services to citizens. Economically rejuvenated ULBs will also be able to create good civic infrastructure.

The set of reforms stipulated by the Department of Expenditure are:

The State will notify:

Floor rates of property tax in ULBs which are in consonance with the prevailing circle rates (i.e. guideline rates for property transactions) and;
Floor rates of user charges in respect of the provision of water-supply, drainage and sewerage which reflect current costs/past inflation.

The State will put in place a system of periodic increase in floor rates of property tax/ user charges in line with price increases. Besides, the centre had identified four citizen centric areas for reforms. They are: