Municipal corporations and councils in Maharashtra

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) runs hospitals, schools, water supply for over a crore people, a fleet of buses through its BEST undertaking, and a road network that carries one of the densest populations on earth. Its annual budget is larger than the budgets of several Indian states. Yet the BMC's elected mayor is largely a ceremonial figure; executive power lies with the Municipal Commissioner, a state-appointed IAS officer.

That tension — between elected representatives and appointed administrators — runs through urban local government in Maharashtra. For MPSC, you need the structure, the laws and the debates.

The constitutional framework: the 74th Amendment

The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 added Part IXA (Articles 243P–243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects) to the Constitution. It provides for:

• three types of urban local bodies — Nagar Panchayats (for areas in transition from rural to urban), Municipal Councils (smaller urban areas) and Municipal Corporations (larger urban areas);
• direct elections to wards;
• reservation for SCs, STs and not less than one-third of seats for women (Maharashtra provides 50 per cent for women);
• a five-year term;
• ward committees in municipalities with a population of three lakh or more (Article 243S);
• State Election Commission and State Finance Commission;
• District Planning Committees (Article 243ZD) and Metropolitan Planning Committees (Article 243ZE).

The three types in Maharashtra

Maharashtra has one of the largest numbers of municipal corporations in India, including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan–Dombivli, Vasai–Virar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Solapur and others. Newer corporations have been created as towns have grown.

The municipal corporation: who holds power?

The deliberative wing

• Corporators — elected from wards.
• Mayor — elected indirectly by the corporators in Maharashtra, for a term of two and a half years. The mayor presides over the general body and represents the city, but has limited executive power.
• Standing Committee — the most powerful committee; approves budgets and contracts.
• Subject committees and ward committees.

The executive wing

• Municipal Commissioner — appointed by the state government, usually an IAS officer. Under the Maharashtra laws, the executive power of the corporation is vested in the Commissioner. He or she prepares the budget, appoints staff and implements decisions.
• Additional commissioners, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners (heads of administrative wards).

This is known as the commissioner system — a separation between the deliberative body (corporators) and the executive (commissioner).

Municipal councils and nagar panchayats

• President (Nagaradhyaksha) — Maharashtra has changed the method of election of the council president between direct election by voters and indirect election by councillors more than once.
• Chief Officer — the administrative head, appointed by the state.

Finances

Urban local bodies depend on:

Octroi and LBT

Maharashtra's cities long relied on octroi — a tax on goods entering city limits — and later on the Local Body Tax (LBT). Octroi was abolished in most cities, LBT was phased out, and after the introduction of GST in 2017, the BMC also stopped collecting octroi. The state compensates local bodies for this loss. The change reduced cities' fiscal autonomy.

Cantonment boards

Maharashtra has several cantonments — such as Pune, Khadki (Kirkee), Dehu Road, Deolali, Kamptee, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad — governed by cantonment boards under the Cantonments Act, 2006 and the Ministry of Defence.

Urban programmes

• Smart Cities Mission — several Maharashtra cities, including Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Thane, Solapur, Kalyan–Dombivli, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
• AMRUT — water supply and sewerage.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) — several Maharashtra cities have ranked well in Swachh Survekshan.
• PMAY (Urban) — housing.

Issues

Practice

Prelims-style:

1. Under which Act is the BMC governed?
2. Who holds executive power in a Maharashtra municipal corporation?
3. What is the term of a mayor in Maharashtra?
4. Which schedule of the Constitution lists the functions of urban local bodies, and how many subjects does it contain?
5. Which Maharashtra city issued municipal bonds in 2017?

Mains-style:

• "The commissioner system in Maharashtra's cities undermines local democracy." Critically examine.
• Discuss the impact of GST on the finances of urban local bodies in Maharashtra.