Article 243Q and Constitution of Municipalities

Municipalities are institutions of local self-government for urban areas. Article 243Q requires their constitution in three categories, according to the character of the urban area, while allowing a specific exception for industrial townships. It forms part of Part IXA of the Constitution, inserted by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.

Three categories of municipalities

Article 243Q(1) provides that municipalities shall be constituted in every State in the following forms. The categories distinguish settlements undergoing urban transition from smaller and larger urban areas.

• A Nagar Panchayat, by whatever name called, is constituted for a transitional area, meaning an area moving from a rural to an urban character.
• A Municipal Council is constituted for a smaller urban area.
• A Municipal Corporation is constituted for a larger urban area.

How urban areas are classified

Under Article 243Q(2), the Governor specifies transitional, smaller urban and larger urban areas through a public notification. The classification must have regard to several characteristics, rather than population alone.

• The relevant considerations include the area's population and population density.
• The Governor must also consider the revenue generated for local administration and the percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities.
• The area's economic importance and such other factors as the Governor considers appropriate are also relevant.
• Article 243Q itself does not prescribe uniform numerical thresholds for these categories; it provides the factors governing their specification.

Exception for industrial townships

The proviso to Article 243Q(1) permits a municipality not to be constituted in an urban area, or part of it, that the Governor specifies by public notification as an industrial township.

• In making this specification, the Governor must have regard to the area's size, the municipal services provided or proposed by an industrial establishment, and such other factors as considered appropriate.
• The exception is not automatic merely because an area contains industries; it depends on the Governor's notified specification under the constitutional proviso.