Tag: political science

A Municipal Council is an urban local body that administers a city or smaller town of the population ranging between twenty thousand to three lakh. The functions of the Municipal Council is same as that of Municipal Corporation.

A Municipal Corporation is made up of wards committee. Members are elected to the ward committees on the basis of adult franchise for a term of five years. These members are called as councilors. The election procedure for electing the members of Municipal Corporation is same as that of the Legislative Assembly of a state.

The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of Constitution 1992 made the provision of Local self Government. It consists of three-tier system Municipal Corporation, Municipality, and Nagar Panchayat.  The representatives of Municipal Council are elected from the wards on the basis of Adult Franchise for the period of Five years which are called Councillors and headed by Mayor who is elected by the same process.

Patwari is a village officer in the local authority who maintains the ownership records for a specific area as well as to undertake the collection of land taxes. He is responsible for measuring the land and maintaining land records. He is known by different names in different states- talati, kanungo, tehsildar,etc.

Every district has a Deputy Commissioner or District collector appointed by the state government to look after the administration, law, and order of the district. A collector is the administrative head of the district. An Indian Administrative Service cadre officer is appointed as a district collector.

District is divided into various small regions called Tehsil for smooth and easier administration and for implementation of the law and order. Just like DC heads a district a Tehsildar heads the tehsil. He is administrative head of the tehsil.

The Mayor is the titular head of the Municipal Corporation and presides over the meetings of the corporation. He is the principal spokesperson for the Council and supports good working relations between the Councillors.

A Nagar Panchayat is a form of an urban political unit  that administers population more than 11000 and less than 25000.The villages that are in the process of becoming towns have a Nagar Panchayat to look after the basic needs of the residents.

The municipal council is an urban local body. It is composed of councilors who are elected from wards, the mayor is the head of Municipal Council and such other employees of State Government as Chief Officer, Planning officer, health officer who perform administrative functions.

The functions of Municipal Corporation are of two types. (1) Obligatory and Discretionary. The obligatory function includes this function which must be performed by the Corporation the discretionary functions are those which are not compulsory but may be taken up depending upon its final resources. Obligatory functions include the supply of water and maintenance of waterworks, the supply of electricity, maintenance of roads. etc. Discretionary functions include construction of Public Houses, registration of marriages, construction of public parks and gardens.etc.