TPSC-CCE Notes on - URBAN LOCAL BODIES (ULB) - Most important Study materials for Tripura State Exams
URBAN LOCAL BODIES
Urban Local Bodies
· 243Q. (1) There shall be constituted in every State,— (a) a Nagar Panchayat (by whatever name called) for a transitional area, that is to say, an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area; (b) a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area; and (c) a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban
Definitions of ULB: ULBs have been classified as Municipal corporation, Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. The 74th CAA does not quantify comparative phrases such as “larger” or “smaller” for the classification and categorization. It lists five criteria like population, area, revenue generated, percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities, economic importance for categorization. However, 65th amendment to the constitution was used as a precursor to 74th amendment. Population of10,000- 20,000 for a Nagar Panchayats, 20,000-30,000 for a Municipal Council, 2 lac or above for Municipal Corporation. The CAA applies mutatis mutandis to all the 3 categories.
· The Municipal Corporation of a state is divided into zones and every zone has its Municipal Commissioner, followed by Municipal Corporation Inspectors. The Municipal Commissioner is the Chief Executive Officer and head of the executive arm of the Municipal Corporation. All executive powers are exercised by the Municipal Commissioner. The Commissioner is appointed for a fixed term as defined by state statute. The Commissioner's tenure can be extended or reduced. The powers of the Commissioner are those provided by the statute and those delegated by the Corporation or the Standing Committee.
· List of functions of Municipal Corporation/Nagar Nigam, that has been laid down by the 12th Schedule of the Constitution (Article 243W): Total 18 functions
Part IXA: ARTICLE 243P – 243ZG
243P. Definitions.
243Q. Constitution of Municipalities.
243R. Composition of Municipalities.
243S. Constitution and composition of wards Committees, etc.
243T. Reservation of seats.
243U. Duration of Municipalities, etc.
243V. Disqualifications for membership.
243W. Powers authority and responsibilities of Municipalities etc.
243X. Power to impose taxes by, and funds of, the Municipalities.
243Y. Finance Commission
243Z. Audit of accounts of Municipalities.
243ZA. Elections to the Municipalities.
243ZB. Application to Union territories.
243ZC. Part not to apply to certain areas.
243ZD. Committee for district planning.
243ZE. Committee for Metropolitan planning.
243ZF. Continuance of existing laws and Municipalities.
243ZG. Bar to interference by courts in electoral matters.
· Agartala Municipality
ORIGIN AND HISTORY
The Capital Agartala (new) was founded in 1838 AD by Maharaja Krishna Kishore Manikya (1830-49 AD). The Agartala Municipality was instituted in 1871 AD during the reign of Maharaja Chandra Manikya (1862-96 AD). The 1st British Political Agent, Mr. A.W.B. Power appointed for hill Tipprah in 1871 AD, was offered the honour of being the Chairman of the Agartala Municipality. The Municipal Administration in Agartala was established in 1874 A.D
and the city became a planned city by the then Maharaja Bir Bikra Manikya Bahadur in 1940s.This erstwhile Princely State Capital of Tripura merged with India on 15th October 1949. The city has become the nerve center of all political, administrative, cultural and commercial activities of the state. The Agartala Municipality functions and discharges obligatory duties following provisions of the Municipal Acts listed below:
LOCATION OF THE CITY
Agartala, the capital of Tripura, is situated along 23° 45'- 23° 55' N latitude and 91°15'- 91°20' E longitude, in the flood plains of the Haora River. Historically, the city has been an important border-trading town with trading linkages with Bangladesh. NF railway & the National Highway (NH)-44 connects Agartala with Silchar, Guwahati and other parts of the country. Agartala is too connected by air with Guwahati & Kolkata and most of the prominent fliers like IA, Jet, Indigo, Air Deccan, King fisher etc having regular services
The climate of Agartala is of tropical monsoon type. The average annual rainfall is around 220 centimeters (cm). The average no of rainy days is 100 days. The temperature varies from 4.2°c to 37.6° on the average. The winter period is from November to February, summer is from March to May and monsoon is from June to September. It has a moderate temperature and highly humid atmosphere. Winds, which are of moderate velocity, are from the south-to-south - east direction for most of the time. Average velocity of wind varies from 4 km to 9 km per hour.
TOPOGRAPHY
The city of Agartala has an altitude of 12.8 metres. The erstwhile AMC area, the central portion of the city is located in an area lower than the surroundings. The central portion of the city is shaped like a saucer. The central portion is bounded by the rivers Haora in the south and Katakhal in the north. Due to its saucer shape, the city is vulnerable to recurrent flooding during monsoons. The city is located in seismic zone.
REGIONAL SETTINGS
1897: Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya re-organised the entire administration and the officer-in-charge of the Political Department was entrusted with the Municipal affairs. During the period,. The work of Census, birth and death registration, regular sweeping and cleaning of roads and drains used to be mades.During the period,. The work of Census, birth and death registration, regular sweeping and cleaning of roads and drains used to be mades.The ancient capital of the then princely State 'Swadhin Tripura' was at Rangamati (Udaipur, South Tripura) by the bank of the river Gomti and in 1760 A.D., It was shifted by the Maharaja Krishna Manikya to the site of old Agartala by the bank of river Haora and was named 'Haveli'. The Capital city of Agartala was founded in1838 AD by Maharaja Krishna Kishore Manikya (1830-49 A.D.). Agartala is inhabited mainly by Bengali communities along with 19 scheduled tribes of Tripura. Bengali and Tripuri are the state's official languages. The other important language is Manipuri. Hinduism is the religion of most of the people. There are also small minorities of Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians The tribals, with a rich and varied culture, belong mainly to the Reang, Chakma, Halam and Usai communities
EVOLUTION OF AGARTALA CITY
1838: Maharaja Krishna Kishore Manikya set up the 'Old Haveli' at the other side of the river Howrah .The area used to be identified upto Kunjaban tilla at the north Jagaharimura and Rashman tilla to the south,the British India at the west and the river Howrah at the east. Due to frequent invasion of the Kukis and also to keep easy communication with the British Bengal, the Maharaja started the process of shifting of the Capital from Old Haveli to New Haveli (present Agartala) in the year 1849 A.D. The next Maharaja Iswar Chandra Manikya on assuming throne on 1st February 1850 A.D constructed a Palace thereon.
1862: Bir Chandra Manikya started the urbanisation of the New Haveli (Agartala)
1871: The Agartala Municipality was established within area of 3 sq. miles having population 875 only by a royal proclamation. Mr. A.W.S. Power, the 1st British Political Agent for Tipperch was appointed as the Chairman of the Agartala Municipality in the year 1872 A.D. As suggested by the 2nd Political Agent Capt. W.L. Samwell, Maharaja
becomes the President of the Municipal Committee. And on behalf of the Maharaja Bir Chandra manikya, Prince Radhakishore took an active role in supervising the Municipal works.
1874: Municipal regulations were introduced with provision of taxation. The main source of income was from water tax levied on tanks and water bodies, realised fine amount of judiciary and state grant. The main task was to look after the development and maintenance of roads /paths.,drainage, bridges and markets and sanitation. During the period, the Akhaura Khal was excavated for drainage.
1897: Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya re-organised the entire administration and the officer-in-charge of the Political Department was entrusted with the Municipal affairs. During the period,. The work of Census, birth and death registration, regular sweeping and cleaning of roads and drains used to be mades
1978: Agartala Municipality was divided into 10 wards for the purpose of election of commissioners for the municipality by enlarging the municipal area to 10.94 sq.km. The second general municipal election was held in June 1978, Shri Amal Dasgupta was elected chairman of the 10 members elected municipal board. The municipality was further extended to an area of 15.81 sq.k.m and was divided in to 13 wards. The 3rd general municipal election was held in July 1983.
1988 to 1996: The municipality was placed under government nominated administrator. 26 October 1994: The Tripura Municipal Act.1994 was passed as per 74th amendment of the Constitution of India, The 4th general Municipal election was held in December, 1995, and municipal council of 17 elected members and 3 nominated members was formed. After the 5th general municipal election held in the month of December 2000 another municipal council with 17 elected members and 3 nominated members came to power. The municipal area was 16.012 sq. k.m. with population of 1,89,998 as per 2001 census.
2004: The Agartala Municipal Council has further been extended from 16.012 sq km to 62.02 sq km in 2004 with a population of 368493 persons. The total GAPA area comprises of 92 sq km.
offered two broad directional thrusts: a) It argued that there should be administrative decentralization for effective implementation of development programme and, b) The decentralized administrative system should be under the control of elected bodies Introduction:
The new system of PRI’S was first adopted in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh in 1959. The Indian parliament passed the 73 rd constitution amendment act in December 1992. It envisages the establishment of panchayats as units of local self government in all states and union territories, except the tribal areas in the states Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram and certain other scheduled areas.
The panchayats receive funds from three sources: (i) Local body grants, as recommended by the Central Finance Commission, (ii) Funds for implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes, and (iii) Funds released by the state governments on the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions. Powers and responsibilities are delegated to Panchayats at the appropriate level :- Preparation of plan for economic development and social justice. Implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice in relation to 29 subjects given in Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. To levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees.
Salient features of 73rd constitution amendment act,1992 are as follows:: Salient features of 73 rd constitution amendment act,1992 are as follows: 1.The gram sabha has been envisaged as the foundation of the Panchayati raj system. 2. There shall be 3 tiers of panchayats, at the village, intermediate and district level. 3.Seats in a Panchayat at every level are to be filled by direct election from territorial constituents demarcated for this purpose 4.Seat shall be reserved at every level of panchayat for scheduled tribes (ST’s) in proportion to their population in a given panchayat area ,and for women to extent of not less than one third of the total number of seats . 5. The term of office of panchayatas shall be five years and elections must be completed before the expiry of its duration. If dissolved earlier elections must be completed with in six month from the date of disolution.
A state finance commission shall be constituted in every state, to go into the principle governing the distribution and devolution of financial resources between the pnachayat & states. 7.The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of all elections to panchayat shall be vested in a state elect commission. 8. The eleventh schedule has been added to the constitution, which denotes 29 subjects /functions which could be entrusted to the PRI’s
Village level panchayat: It is a local body working for the good of the village. The number of members usually ranges from 7 to 31; occasionally, groups are larger, but they never have fewer than 7 members. The block-level institution is called the Panchayat Samiti . The district-level institution is called the Zilla Parishad .
Intermediate level panchayat : Intermediate level panchayat/Panchayat samiti is a local government body at the tehsil or Taluka level in India. It works for the villages of the Tehsil or Taluka that together are called a Development Block. The Panchayat Samiti is the link between the Gram Panchayat and the district administration. There are a number of variations of this institution in various states. It is known as Mandal Praja Parishad in Andhra Pradesh, Taluka panchayat in Gujarat, Mandal Panchayat in Karnataka, etc.In general it's a kind of Panchayati raj at higher level.
Constitution: It is composed of ex-officio members (all sarpanchas of the panchayat samiti area, the MPs and MLAs of the area and the SDO of the subdivision), coopted members (representatives of SC/ST and women), associate members (a farmer of the area, a representative of the cooperative societies and one of the marketing services) and some elected members. The samiti is elected for 5 years and is headed by the chairman and the deputy chairman .
Departments : The common departments in the Samiti are as follows: General administration Finance Public works Agriculture Health Education Social welfare Information Technology and others.
Functions : Implement schemes for the development of agriculture. Establishment of primary health centre's and primary schools. Supply of drinking water, drainage, construction/repair of roads. Development of cottage and small-scale industries and opening of cooperative societies. Establishment of youth organizations.
Sources of income: The main source of
income of the panchayat samiti is grants-in-aid and loans from the State
Government.
District level panchayat: In the district level of the panchayati raj system you have the "zilla parishad". It looks after the administration of the rural area of the district and its office is located at the district headquarters. The Hindi word Parishad means Council and Zilla Parishad translates to District Council. It is headed by the "District Collector" or the "District Magistrate" or the "Deputy Comminissioner". it is the link between the state government and the panchayat samiti
Functions: 1. Provide essential services and facilities to the rural population and the planning and execution of the development programmes for the district.
2. Supply improved seeds to farmers. Inform them of new techniques of training. Undertake construction of small-scale irrigation projects and percolation tanks. Maintain pastures and grazing lands.
3. Set up and run schools in villages. Execute programmes for adult literacy. Run libraries.
4. Start Primary Health Centers and hospitals in villages. Start mobile hospitals for hamlets, vaccination drives against epidemics and family welfare campaigns.
5. Construct bridges and roads.
6. Execute plans for the development of the scheduled castes and tribes. Run ashrams Halas for adivasi children. Set up free hostels for scheduled caste students.
7. Encourage entrepreneurs to start small-scale industries like cottage industries, handicraft, agriculture produce processing mills, dairy farms, etc. implement rural employment schemes.
8. They construct roads,schools,& public properties. And they take care of the public properties.
9. They even supply work for the poor people.(tribes,scheduled caste,lower caste)
Sources of Income: 1. Taxes on water, pilgrimage, markets, etc. 2. Fixed grant from the State Government in proportion with the land revenue and money for works and schemes assigned to the Parishad.
· Tripura and Panchayati Raj system
For governance and execution of development works, there are two distinct mechanisms, one for the ADC and another for the non-ADC areas. The non-ADC areas are alike other states, and follow the PRI system of planning and governance, which is discussed below.
Decentralization and
Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Non-ADC Areas
The Panchayati Raj system in Tripura was initially guided by the United Province Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, and 'Gaon Sabhas' were constituted in development blocks. In January 1984, the Tripura Panchayats Act, 1983, was brought into force, replacing the United Provinces Panchayat Raj Act, 1947.
After the Constitution 73rd Amendment Act was brought in, the government enacted the Tripura Panchayat Act, 1993. It provided for a three-tier Panchayati Raj structure in non-ADC areas, with Gram Panchayat at the village, Panchayat Samiti at the block and Zilla Parishad at the district levels. Gram Panchayats are constituted below the block level and consist of a number of constituencies called Wards. The Sarpanch, head of the Gram Panchayat, is a directly elected people's representative from the Gram Sabha.
The Gram Sabha is a body consisting of all persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of Panchayat, which is vested its ownership over the minor forest produces. There are Gram Sabhas in every village, irrespective of whether it is a schedule or a non-schedule area. As per the provisions of the Tripura Panchayat Act, Gram Sansad has also been constituted at the Panchayat constituency level (ward) for more effective involvement of citizens in development aspects.
The PRIs are mandated with the responsibility for preparation of plans for economic development and social justice, and its agency functions relate to the implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice, as may be entrusted to them, including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule.
The Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution directed transfer of financial and administrative powers to the PRIs in respect of 29 different subjects, and the state government has been delegating powers and responsibilities to the PRIs from 1994 onwards; while the 20 functions of various departments have been transferred, only 9 subjects have been vested in PRIs with regards to the administrative and financial powers which are supposed to be accompanied with the functions.
Each Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad consists of 7 Standing Committees:
i) Finance, Audit and Planning Committee (to be known as Finance Committee).
ii) Education, Environment, Cultural, Health and Sports Affairs Committee (to be known as Education and Health Committee).
iii) Communication, Rural Electrification and non-conventional Energy Committee (to be known as Works Committee)
iv) Industries, including Cottage Industry and Sericultural Committee (to be known as Industries Committee).
v) Social Justice Committee.
vi) Agricultural, Food, Irrigation, Cooperation, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Committee (to be known as Agriculture Committee).
vii) Poverty Alleviation Programme, Social and Farm Forestry, Rural Housing and
Drinking Water Committee (to be known as Poverty alleviation Committee).
