LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

MUNICIPALITIES

The total area in the district under the administration of Municipalities in 1951 was 33.5 sq. miles with a population of 88,290. The following were the Municipalities then functioning in the district:-

The last three municipalities belonged to the area of the former Janjira State. In 1955 the Municipality of Mhasla was converted into a Gram Panchayat as the population of the town was below 5,000. Since then nine Municipalities are functioning in the district. All these are district Municipalities governed under Bombay District Municipal Act, 1901. There are no Borough Municipalities or Cantonments in the district.

Matheran is the famous hill-station near Bombay, and has a Hill Station Municipality. Matheran is connected by narrow guage railway line to the Neral Station on the Bombay-Poona main railway line.

The State Government has power to declare by notification any local area to be a "Municipal district" and also to alter the limits of any existing Municipal district. In every Municipal district a Municipality has to be constituted, consisting of elected councillors, the Commissioner having power to nominate councillors, to represent constituencies which fail to elect the full number allotted to them. The State Government has power to prescribe the number and the extent of the wards to be constituted in each Municipal district and the number of councillors to be elected by each ward. Till 26th January 1960, it could also reserve seats for the representation of women, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. The term of office of a Municipality is four years, but it can be extended to an aggregate of five years by an order of the Commissioner. Under the Act, every Municipality has to be presided over by a president selected from among the councillors and either appointed by Government or elected by Municipality, if the State Government so directs. There shall be a Vice-President for every Municipality elected by the councillors from among their number, but if the President is appointed by the State Government or is President ex-officio, the result of the election shall, if the State Government by general or special order from time to time so directs, be subject to the approval of the State Government or of the Commissioner.

The governance of a Municipal district vests in the Municipality. The head of the Municipality is the President, whose duty it is to―

(a) preside at meetings of the Municipality;

(b) watch over the financial and executive administration and to perform such other executive functions as may be performed by the Municipality; and

(c) exercise supervision and control over the acts and proceedings of all officers and servants of the Municipality.

There is provision for the compulsory constitution of a managing committee in the case of all Municipalities and of a pilgrim committee in the case of those Municipalities which have been specially notified by the State Government. Option is also left to Municipalities to appoint other executive or consultative committees.

The Act divides Municipal functions into obligatory and optional. The former include all matters essential to the health, safety, convenience and well-being of the population, while the latter cover those which, despite being legitimate objects of local expenditure, are not considered absolutely essential. The following are among the obligatory duties laid on all Municipalities:-

(a) lighting public streets, places and buildings;

(b) watering public streets and places;

(c) cleansing public streets, places and sewers; removing noxious vegetation; and abating all public nuisances;

(d) extinguishing fires, and protecting life and property when fires occur;

(e) regulating or abating offensive or dangerous trades or practices;

(f) removing obstructions and projections in public streets or places;

(g) securing or removing dangerous buildings or places, and reclaiming unhealthy localities;

(h) acquiring and maintaining, changing and regulating places for the disposal of the dead;

(i) constructing, altering and maintaining public streets, culverts, municipal boundary marks, markets, slaughter-houses, latrines, privies, urinals, drains, sewers, drainage works, sewerage works, baths, washing places, drinking fountains, tanks, wells, dams and the like;

(j) obtaining a supply or an additional supply of water, proper and sufficient for preventing danger to the health of the inhabitants from the insufficiency or unwholesomeness of the existing supply when such supply or additional supply can be obtained at a reasonable cost;

(k) naming streets and numbering of premises;

(l) registering births and deaths;

(m) public vaccination;

(n) suitable accommodation for any calves, sows or buffaloes required within the municipal district for the supply of animal lymph;

(o) establishing and maintaining hospitals and dispensaries and providing medical relief;

(p) establishing and maintaining primary schools;

(q) printing such annual reports in the municipal administration of the district as the State Government by general or special orders requires the municipality to submit;

(r) paying the salary and the contingent expenditure on account of such police or guards as may be required by the municipality for the purposes of this Act or for the protection of any municipal property;

(s) disposing of night-soil and rubbish and, if so required by the State Government, preparing compost manure from such night-soil and rubbish;

(t) constructing and maintaining residential quarters for the conservancy staff of the municipality;

(u) providing special medical aid and accommodation for the sick at the time of the occurrence of dangerous disease; and taking such measures as may be required to prevent the outbreak of the disease or to suppress it and prevent its recurrence:

(v) giving relief and establishing and maintaining relief works in time of famine or scarcity to or for destitute persons; and

(w) paying for the maintenance and treatment of lunatics and lepers and persons affected by rabies, in case they are indigent and have been residents in the municipal area for one year.

Municipalities may, at their discretion, provide out of their funds for the following:―

(a) laying out new public streets;

(b) constructing, establishing or maintaining public parks, gardens, libraries, museums, lunatic asylums, halls, offices, dharmashalas, rest-houses, homes for the disabled and destitute persons, and other public buildings;

(c) furthering educational objects;

(d) securing or assisting to secure suitable places for carrying on offensive trades;

(e) establishing and maintaining a farm or factory for the disposal of sewage;

(f) the construction, purchase, organisation, maintenance, extension and arrangement of mechanically propelled transport facilities for the conveyance of the public;

(g) promoting the well-being of municipal employees and their dependants;

(h) providing accommodation for municipal employees and their dependants;

(i) construction of sanitary dwellings for the poorer classes; and

(j) to take any measure likely to promote the public safety, health, convenience or education.

Municipal taxation may embrace the following items:―

(i) a rate on buildings and lands;

(ii) a tax on all or any vehicles, boats, or animals used for riding, draught or burden;

(iii) a toll on vehicles (other than motor vehicles or trailers) and animals used as aforesaid;

(iv) an octroi on animals and goods; (v) a tax on dogs;

(vi) a special sanitary cess upon private latrines, premises or compounds cleansed by municipal agency;

(vii) a general sanitary cess for the construction and maintenance of public latrines, and for the removal and disposal of refuse;

(viii) a general water-rate or a special water-rate, or both;

(iv) a lighting tax;

(x) a tax on pilgrims; and

(xi) any other tax which the State Legislature has power to impose.

Instead of (i), (vii), (viii) and (ix), a consolidated tax assessed as a rate on buildings or lands may be imposed.

The rules regulating the levy of taxes have to be sanctioned by the Commissioner, who has been given powers to subject the few to such modifications not involving an increase of the amount to be imposed or to such conditions as to application of a part or whole of the proceeds of the tax to any purpose. If any tax is imposed on pilgrims resorting periodically to a shrine within the limits of the municipal district, the Commissioner may require the municipality to assign and pay to the District Local Board such portion of the tax as he deems fit, and when a portion is so assigned, an obligation is laid on the board to expend it on works conducive to health, convenience and safety of the pilgrims.

The State Government may raise objections to the levy of any particular tax which appears to it to be unfair in its incidence or obnoxious to the interest of the general public and suspend the levy of it until such time as the objections are removed. The State Government may require a municipality to impose taxes when it appears to it that the balance of the municipal fund is insufficient for meeting any cost incurred by any person acting under the directions of the Collector or of the Commissioner for the execution of any work or the performance of any duties which the municipality is under an obligation to execute or perform but which it has failed to do.

Many of these taxes are levied by the municipalities but the rates at which they are levied do not enable them to meet all their expenditure. Their incomes have to be supplemented by numerous grants made by Government, both recurring and nonrecurring. For instance, grants are made by Government to municipalities towards maintenance of municipal dispensaries and hospitals, water-supply and drainage schemes, expenditure on epidemics, payment of clearness allowance to staff, etc These grants add substantially to the municipal income.

Since the passing of the Bombay Primary Education Act (LXI of 1947), control of primary education has virtually been transferred from smaller municipalities and the District Local Board to the Kolaba District School Board, and the financial liabilities of smaller municipalities have been limited. The Primary Education Act divides, municipalities into two categories, viz., (1) those authorized to control all approved schools within their areas, and (2) those not so authorised. All smaller municipalities, being non-authorised, have to pay over to the District School Board only 5 per cent, of the rateable value of the properties in their areas as a contribution towards meeting the expenses on education.

Control over the municipalities is exercised by the Collector, the Commissioner and the State Government. The Collector has powers of entry and inspection in regard to any immoveable property occupied by a municipality or any work in progress under it. He may also call for extracts from the proceedings of a municipality or for any books or documents in its possession or under its control. He may also require a municipality to take into its consideration any objection he has to any of its acts or information which he is able to furnish necessitating any action on its part. These powers are delegated by the Collector to the Assistant or Deputy Collectors in charge of prants.

The Commissioner has powers to order a municipality to suspend or prohibit, pending the orders of the State Government, the execution of any of its order or resolution, if, in his opinion, it is likely to cause injury or annoyance to the public or to lead to a breach of peace or is unlawful. In cases of emergency, the Commissioner may provide for the execution of any works or the doing of any act which a municipality is empowered to execute or do and the immediate execution or doing of which is necessary for the health or safety of the public "and may direct that the expenses shall be forthwith paid by the municipality. Subject to appeal to the State Government, the Commissioner is also empowered to require a municipality to reduce the number of persons employed by it and also the remuneration assigned to any member of the staff. On the recommendation of a municipality he can remove any councillor guilty of misconduct in the discharge of his duties.

When satisfied that a municipality has made a default in performing any statutory duty imposed on it, the State Government may direct the Commissioner to fix a period for the performance of that duty, and if that duty is not performed within the period stipulated, the Commissioner may appoint some person to perform it and direct that the expenses shall be forthwith paid by the municipality. If the State Government is of the view that any municipality is not competent to perform or persistently makes default in the performance of its duties or exceeds or abuses its powers, it may either dissolve the municipality or supersede it for a specific period. The President or Vice-President of a municipality or municipal borough may be removed by the State Government for misconduct or for neglect or incapacity in regard to the performance of his duties.

The audit of all Local Fund Accounts is provided for by the Bombay Local Fund Audit Act (XXV of 1930). The Commissioner, on receipt of the report of the Examiner of Local Funds, may disallow any item of expenditure which appears to him to be contrary to law and surcharge the same on the person making or authorising the making of the illegal payment. Appeal against the order may be made either to the District Court or to the State Government.

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