Types of urban governments in India

  1. Municipal corporation
  • It is created for the administration of big cities
  • They are established by an act of state legislatures and in the case of UTs, it is by an act of Parliament
  • The corporation has three organs- council, standing committees and commissioner
  • The council is the deliberative body consisting of elected and few nominated representatives. They enact laws and policies. The council is headed by a mayor who is to preside over the council meetings. He is elected by the members amongst themselves. He has a renewable one-year term
  • Standing committees are created to simplify the working of the council. They take decision in their respective fields for which they have been made responsible. Ex: Health, education, public works etc
  • Municipal commissioner is responsible for implementing the policies and decisions taken by the council and the committees
  1. Municipality
  • It is established for administration of smaller towns and cities
  • They are established by an act of state legislatures and in the case of UTs, it is by an act of Parliament
  • It also has three authorities- council, standing committees and chief executive officer
  • The council is the deliberative and legislative body. It is headed by a chairperson.
  • Unlike the mayor in a municipal corporation, chairperson here has executive powers
  • The CEO is responsible for day-to-day administration
  1. Notified area committee
  • It is created for fast-developing areas that have not yet achieved the numbers to become a municipality
  • It is notified by state government gazette
  • Only those provisions which are specified in the gazette apply to this area
  • It is entirely a nominated body
  1. Town area committee
  • It is setup for the administration of a small town
  • It is created by a separate act of the state legislature
  • It may be a wholly elected, wholly nominated or party elected and nominated as specified by the state government
  1. Cantonment board
  • It is setup for the civic administration for civilian population living in cantonment areas
  • It is setup under the provisions of the cantonment act, 2006
  • It works under the administrative control of the Union defence ministry
  • It consists of partly elected and partly nominated representatives
  • The commanding officer of the station is the ex-officio chairperson
  • The board will also consists of an executive engineer, health officer, first class magistrate, chief executive officer
  • The nominated members hold office as long as they are part of the station
  • Elected members have a tenure of 5 years
  1. Township
  • It is established by a public sector enterprise to ensure civic administration of their workers in the region
  • The township has no elected members
  • It is an extension of bureaucratic structure of the PSE
  1. Port trust
  • It is established in port areas
  • Functions of these bodies: to manage ports and to provide civic amenities
  • It consists of both elected and nominated members
  1. Special purpose Agency
  • These are setup to address specific issues which are usually the domain of municipalities
  • They are also known as single-purpose or uni-purpose because of the singular role based on which they are created for
  • They are established by an act of state legislature or as departments by an executive resolution
  • They function as autonomous bodies