Municipalities

1. Constitutional foundation and types of municipalities

Urban local government brings decisions about neighbourhood infrastructure, sanitation, public health and land use closer to citizens. Before constitutional recognition, municipal institutions often faced irregular elections, prolonged supersession and financial dependence. The Seventy-fourth Amendment sought to make representative urban government more durable while retaining considerable state control over its design and powers.

Article 243Q provides for three categories: a Nagar Panchayat for an area transitioning from rural to urban; a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area; and a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area. The Governor specifies such areas by public notification, considering population, population density, revenue generated for local administration, the proportion of employment in non-agricultural activities, economic importance and other relevant factors. The Constitution does not prescribe uniform population thresholds for these three categories.

A municipality need not be constituted in an area notified as an industrial township where municipal services are provided or proposed to be provided by an industrial establishment, subject to the constitutional conditions. Under Article 243ZC, Part IXA does not automatically apply to Scheduled Areas and tribal areas referred to in Article 244. Parliament may extend its provisions to these areas with exceptions and modifications.

• Article 243P defines a municipality as an institution of self-government constituted under Article 243Q.
• Cantonment administration is governed separately under Union legislation; a cantonment board should not be treated as one of the three Article 243Q categories.

2. Composition, representation and citizen participation

Under Article 243R, all seats in a municipality are filled by direct election from territorial constituencies called wards. State legislation may additionally provide representation to persons with special knowledge or experience in municipal administration, specified MPs and state legislators, and chairpersons of certain committees. Persons nominated for special knowledge or experience cannot vote in municipal meetings. The manner of electing the municipal chairperson is determined by state law; the Constitution does not require every mayor to be directly elected.

Article 243S requires Ward Committees in municipalities with a population of three lakh or more. Each committee may cover one or more wards. State law determines their composition and territorial area, subject to constitutional requirements regarding elected ward representatives. States may also establish other committees. Ward-level participation is important because a city-wide elected council alone may not adequately reflect neighbourhood priorities.

Article 243T reserves seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes broadly in proportion to their population in the municipal area. At least one-third of these reserved seats must be reserved for women belonging to those communities. At least one-third of all directly elected seats, including the seats reserved for SC/ST women, must be reserved for women. Seats may be allotted by rotation. States may provide a higher share for women.

Offices of municipal chairpersons must be reserved for SCs, STs and women in the manner prescribed by state law; the Constitution does not prescribe the same one-third formula for municipal chairperson offices. States may also reserve seats or chairperson offices for backward classes. Such backward-class political reservation is subject to the Supreme Court’s triple-test requirements, including a dedicated commission and local-body-wise empirical determination.

• Article 243V: a person who has attained 21 years cannot be disqualified merely for being below 25 years.
• Distinguish elected councillors, nominated experts, the chairperson and the municipal executive; their powers are not identical.

3. Tenure, elections and constitutional safeguards

Article 243U fixes a municipality’s duration at five years from the date appointed for its first meeting, unless it is dissolved earlier according to law. A municipality must receive a reasonable opportunity of being heard before dissolution. Elections must be completed before the ordinary term expires or within six months of dissolution. However, an election need not be held when the unexpired portion of the dissolved body’s term is less than six months.

A municipality reconstituted after premature dissolution serves only the remainder of the original term, not a fresh five-year term. An amendment to an applicable law cannot, by itself, dissolve a functioning municipality before its term expires. These provisions seek to prevent elected urban bodies from being indefinitely replaced by administrators.

Article 243ZA entrusts the superintendence, direction and control of municipal electoral rolls and elections to the State Election Commission established under Article 243K. The State Election Commissioner is appointed by the Governor and enjoys constitutional protection against removal. In Kishansing Tomar v. Municipal Corporation of the City of Ahmedabad, 2006, the Supreme Court emphasised timely municipal elections and the obligation of state authorities to assist the commission.

Article 243ZG bars courts from questioning laws concerning delimitation or allotment of seats made or purportedly made under Article 243ZA. A municipal election may be challenged only through an election petition presented in the manner prescribed by state law. This protects the electoral process from routine interruption while preserving the statutory mechanism for election disputes.

4. Functions, finance and the limits of devolution

Article 243W enables state legislatures to endow municipalities with powers necessary to function as institutions of self-government. These include preparing plans for economic development and social justice and implementing entrusted schemes, including matters in the Twelfth Schedule. Its 18 entries cover urban planning, land-use regulation, roads, water supply, sanitation, fire services, urban forestry, slum improvement, urban poverty alleviation and other civic responsibilities.

The schedule is not an automatically enforceable allocation of exclusive municipal powers. Actual responsibilities depend on state laws, activity allocation, personnel and finances. Development authorities, water boards and other parastatal agencies frequently perform urban functions outside direct municipal control. Consequently, constitutional recognition need not produce effective decentralisation unless functions, funds and functionaries move together.

Article 243X allows state legislation to authorise municipal taxes, duties, tolls and fees; assign state revenues; provide grants-in-aid; and establish municipal funds. Municipalities do not possess unlimited independent taxation powers. Property tax, user charges, assigned revenues and grants are important resources. Borrowing and municipal bonds are governed by applicable laws and regulatory conditions, rather than being unconditional constitutional entitlements.

Under Article 243Y, the State Finance Commission constituted every five years under Article 243I also reviews municipal finances and recommends revenue-sharing principles, assigned taxes, grants and measures to improve financial position. Its recommendations and an action-taken explanatory memorandum must be placed before the state legislature. Article 280(3)(c) requires the Union Finance Commission to recommend measures to augment state consolidated funds to supplement municipal resources on the basis of State Finance Commission recommendations. Article 243Z enables state laws on municipal accounts and audit.

• Prelims trap: the State Finance Commission recommends financial arrangements; it does not conduct municipal elections.
• The Fifteenth Finance Commission recommended ₹1,21,055 crore for urban local bodies for 2021–26, with differentiated grant arrangements.

5. Integrated planning and contemporary reform

Article 243ZD provides for a District Planning Committee to consolidate plans prepared by panchayats and municipalities and prepare a draft development plan for the district. At least four-fifths of its members must be elected by and from elected district-level panchayat members and municipal members, in proportion to the district’s rural and urban populations.

Article 243ZE provides for a Metropolitan Planning Committee in every metropolitan area. Such an area has a population of ten lakh or more, comprises one or more districts and consists of two or more municipalities, panchayats or other contiguous areas specified by the Governor. At least two-thirds of committee members must be elected by and from elected municipal members and panchayat chairpersons, in proportion to municipal and panchayat populations.

Both committees address issues crossing local boundaries, such as infrastructure, environmental conservation and coordinated spatial planning. Neither is simply another municipal corporation. In practice, fragmented metropolitan governance, weak municipal staffing, inadequate own-source revenue and uneven accountability restrict urban self-government. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission’s report on Local Governance advocated clearer responsibility, stronger financial capacity and citizen participation. Effective reform requires empowered elected bodies together with professional administration, transparent accounts and accessible grievance redress.

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