The 74th Constitutional Modification Act, which mandated the devolution of powers to city native our bodies in order that they serve residents immediately and successfully, has not been absolutely carried out by 18 states even after three a long time after Parliament amended the Structure, efficiency audits by the Comptroller and Auditor Common (CAG) of India have revealed.
A compendium of the efficiency audit reviews on implementation of the 74th Constitutional Modification Act, launched on November 11, stated whereas 17 of the 18 municipal features have been transferred to city native self-governments (ULSGs) by legislation, solely 4 features have been successfully devolved with full autonomy. Ten out of the 14 states have overriding powers over ULSGs on greater than 5 of the 16 components CAG analysed.
The Twelfth Schedule of the Structure outlines municipal features equivalent to city planning, land-use and constructing laws, public well being, civic facilities, and parking administration. The CAG report discovered city planning and fireplace providers are the least devolved features by legislation.
The constitutional modification, which got here into power in June 1993, empowers native our bodies to hold out these important features, that are very important for guaranteeing good high quality of life. For this, it mandates states to represent municipalities, specify their composition, powers, authorities and duties, conduct elections, give powers to USLGs to enact efficient legal guidelines and insurance policies, levy taxes, and set up institutional mechanisms for performing municipal features.
With 50% of India’s inhabitants projected to be city by 2050, the report underlined the necessity for sturdy ULSGs. Nevertheless, to realize this, states must speed up their efforts.
The compendium identified that 1,600 out of two,625 ULSGs in 17 states had no energetic elected council, and solely 5 had immediately elected mayors. Six out of the 14 states reserved 50% of their metropolis council seats for girls, surpassing the constitutional requirement of 33% reservation for girls. Solely 4 of the 15 states have empowered their State Election Commissions (SEC) with ward delimitation.
The compendium additionally confirmed that the municipal our bodies closely rely upon the central and state governments for funds. On common, solely 32% of ULSG’s whole income was their very own. As little as 29% of their expenditure went to growth works and welfare programmes, whereas their common useful resource expenditure hole was 42%. Solely ten states have constituted State Finance Commissions based on the prescribed timeline. On common, there’s a delay of 412 days in establishing SFCs within the states.
CAG evaluated the implementation of the constitutional modification in 393 ULSGs throughout 18 states from 2019 to 2024, and by June 2024, these reviews had been positioned in state legislatures.
Bengaluru-based non-profit Janaagraha, a Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, helped to synthesise these reviews right into a compendium. The states audited by the CAG embrace Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, and Uttarakhand.
To strengthen municipal governance, the CAG report emphasised the necessity to conduct municipal elections each 5 years, represent planning committees to regulate haphazard urbanisation and empower state finance commissions to concentrate on higher fiscal administration.
Srikanth Viswanathan, chief govt officer of Janaagraha, stated the compendium supplies exhausting proof and proposals on learn how to treatment the unfinished devolution and weak city native governments.
“Empowering city native governments must be an vital nationwide precedence for India, and well-meaning and like-minded stakeholders throughout authorities, civil society, and academia should come collectively to perform the identical. The CAG’s audit reviews and compendium have laid a strong basis for such an effort.”
