ROLES AND POWERS OF MUNICIPAL COUNCILLORSThis pamphlet was written by Satyarupa Shekhar as part of Transparent Chennai’s research on electoralaccountability. You can write to the author at [email protected]Local governments are the lowest level of government and municipal councillors are the electedrepresentatives CLOSEST to the people. Their role is not easy; it requires them to represent their electoralconstituencies, provide a vision for development, and oversee public finances. In order to fully respond to theneeds of the community, elected representatives must engage properly with their constituents. But theirefficacy depends also on public awareness of their roles and powers, as also their PERFORMANCE. Typically, therole of an elected REPRESENTATIVE includes i) policy making, ii) executive oversight and iii) constituencyimprovement. Simply put, councillors make laws, approve budgets and raise questions of public importance.As members of the Council and Wards Committees, councillors monitor the Corporation’s activities in theprovision of all municipal services.Policy Making Council meetings are chaired bythe Mayor and attended by all councillors and theCommissioner, the head of the city’sadministration. Councillors can represent theconcerns of their constituencies here. They CANALSO ask questions on the activities of theCorporation. The Council has the power to passresolutions on various matters such as taxes, andpublic works like lighting, drainage, andsanitation. Six Standing Committees with fifteencouncillors in each look in to the policies and workin Accounts, Education, Public Health, TownPlanning, Works, and Taxation and Finance.Executive Oversight Residents can informcouncillors of civic problems they face, whichcouncillors can discuss at Wards Committeemeetings. These are zone-level forums wherecouncillors can discuss problems in their wards.These meetings are presided over by the WardsCommittee Chairman and attended by theAssistant Commissioner, Executive Engineer,Assistant Engineer from the zone Electricity Boardoffice, Assistant Health Officer, Assistant RevenueOfficers, Assistant Executive Engineers, JuniorEngineers and Metro Water officers. Resolutionsmust be approved by the Wards Committee andthe relevant Standing Committees before beingtabled before the Council.Ward Improvement The mayor and allcouncillors are allotted a discretionary fund knownas the Municipal Councillor Local AreaDevelopment (MC LAD) fund. The fund can beused to undertake permissible capital expenses tosupplement municipal infrastructure. The funds areheld by the Corporation of Chennai andcouncillors can recommend development work intheir wards.Permissible works for MC LAD funds Basic amenities such as drinking water, roads,public toilets and bathrooms in hutments Bus shelters Corporation school classrooms, auditoriums,playgrounds and computers Bins and tricycles for collection of garbage Maternity homes, PHARMACIES, nutrition centres Mortuaries, burial and cremation sites Parks, children play devices in parks Rain water collection and drainage at placesowned by the Corporation, road-side drainage,culverts across canals and roads Roads and platforms, subways, traffic islands,fountains and road medians Toilets, urinals and bathroomsNon-permissible works for MC LAD funds Any type of repair or maintenance works,including repair and maintenance on specialcategory property which could offer long termusage Commercial establishments, service trust,registered society, private companies or cooperativeestablishments Residential and office buildings, places ofworship Properties that could be used by individualswhich are not under any approved schemes Land acquisition and compensation foracquisitioned lands Memorial, statues and memorial centres Purchase of small motor vehicles to cleargarbage Street light, hardware, tube vapour lamps Subsidy and loans Works of other Departments and Boards Works that require running expenses