Local Governance and Municipal Administration: 74th Amendment, Civic Functions and Gujarat Law
What is tested
The constitutional and legal frame for urban local bodies, the functions they perform, and everyday civic awareness - waste segregation, property tax, building permission, birth and death registration, grievance redressal.
Core rules
- The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 inserted Part IXA (Articles 243P–243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule, listing 18 municipal functions.
- Three tiers under Article 243Q: Nagar Panchayat for a transitional area, Municipal Council for a smaller urban area, Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area. State legislatures fix the criteria.
- Corporations have an elected Mayor as head and an appointed Municipal Commissioner as executive; municipalities have a President and a Chief Officer.
- Corporations above three lakh population must have ward committees.
- Gujarat statutes: the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 governs corporations; the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963 governs councils and nagar panchayats.
- Typical functions: water supply, sanitation and solid waste management under the SWM Rules, 2016, drainage, roads, street lighting, fire services, urban planning, slum improvement and registration of births and deaths.
Worked example
A fast-growing settlement is still transitional, not yet a town council. Which body governs it? Article 243Q provides a Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban. A Municipal Council needs a smaller urban area and a Corporation a larger urban area, so the answer is Nagar Panchayat.
Traps
- Mixing the 73rd Amendment (panchayats, Eleventh Schedule, 29 subjects) with the 74th (municipalities, Twelfth Schedule, 18 functions).
- Treating the Mayor as the executive head; day-to-day administration rests with the Commissioner.
- Confusing a ward committee with a ward sabha.
- Forgetting that civic duties such as segregating dry and wet waste are mandatory under the SWM Rules, 2016.