Municipality

Political units such as cities, villages, and towns with local self-government are known as municipalities. The municipality is a combination of several wards. There have been approx 4000 statutory urban local bodies (ULBs) in India. Kolkata municipality consists of three municipal corporations which have been seen to include approx 37 municipalities. In India, the first municipality was established in Madras, which is known as Chennai, in 1688. Municipalities had been established in Mumbai and Kolkata in 1726. 

Municipality

A municipality can be introduced as a political subdivision of any state in which a municipal corporation is established to provide services related to health, legal, and several other things for a specific population. According to Article 243Q of the Indian constitution, there are three types of municipalities in India: Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council, and Municipal Corporation. The population in the municipal council should be between 25000 and 100000. The population in the Nagar panchayat should be between 11000 and 25000. A Nagar panchayat can be established for the areas which are going to convert into urban areas from rural areas. Municipal councils are established for small urban areas. On the other hand, the Municipal Corporations are developed for the large urban areas. The population of a municipality should be greater than 1000000. There are 100 municipal corporations, 2100 Nagar Panchayats, and 1500 municipal councils in India. The functions of the municipalities are to provide the services related to health, education, legal, and drinking water for a particular population. Planning for social development, roads, and bridges also can be included in the functions of municipalities. 

Municipality meaning

The municipality consists of several wards and from each ward one person has to be elected as councillor by voting. The councillors are selected for the services for five years. Most of the seats of the wards are filled by direct election and some seats have to be filled by persons having proper knowledge of the functions of municipal corporations. The councillors who are not selected by voting have no right to vote in the meetings of municipalities. One major and one deputy mayor have to be appointed for every municipal corporation. According to Article 243S, in each municipality, some ward committees have to be established with one or more wards. Ward committees should cover a population of more than 300000. According to Article 243R, the election process for Chairpersons of municipalities is totally dependent on the state legislature. Reservation of seats for SC and ST has to be provided according to the ratio of their population and the total population of that municipality. An equation that can be used to understand this properly is provided below:

(Reservation seats for ST/ST)/ (Total seats) = (Population of ST/ST)/Total population of the municipality

Reservation seats should be filled by direct voting. No seat has to be reserved as a nominated seat. According to the constitution, at least one-third of the reserved seats should be reserved for women only. 

Municipal Corporation

Municipal Corporations are established in every large city in India. Municipal corporations should be established in large cities in which the population is more than 1 million. Kolkata Municipal Corporation was developed in 1876. Chittaranjan Das was known as the first chairman of the Kolkata municipal corporation. The KMDA area of Kolkata consists of three municipalities: Kolkata municipality, Howrah municipality, and Chandannagar municipality. The current mayor of the Kolkata municipality is Firhad Hakim. The functions of municipal corporations are developing the infrastructure and public facilities related to health, education, water supplies, sanitary, etc. 

Municipal corporations are earning money in several ways such as taxes on properties, taxes on business and trade, fees for water supplies, and rent from the building as institutions, houses, etc. The age of the candidates for the election of municipal corporations should be greater than 21 years. According to Article 243Z, the maintenance of the municipal corporations should be done under the provisions of the laws of the state. According to Article 243ZB, the rules of municipal corporations in state and union territories are the same. The President of India can change the rules of municipal corporations with public notifications as per the requirements. According to Article 243 ZE, a metropolitan planning committee should be established in every metropolitan area that has a population over 10 lakhs to draft a development plan.

Conclusion

Municipalities are established in urban areas to solve the several problems of the people of those urban areas. In 1992, the 74th amendment of the constitution changed several laws regarding the municipality. The municipality has been known to be a political subdivision of a state which governs different municipal corporations established under it. Main objective of municipalities has been seen to provide local governance to a specifically defined area. Annual administrative reports have to be collected by the municipalities every year and combinations of these reports have to be submitted to the state government. The areas that are converting to urban areas require municipalities.