Administrative Reforms Commission’s 6th Report recommendations that is accepted by Government : 12
Devolution of Powers and Responsibilities
a. There should be clear delineation of functions for each level of local government in the case of each subject matter law. This is not a one-time exercise and has to be done continuously while working out locally relevant socio-economic programmes, restructuring organisations and framing subject-matter laws.
b. Each subject-matter law, which has functional elements that are best attended to at local levels, should have provision for appropriate devolution to such levels – either in the law or in subordinate legislation. All the relevant Union and State laws have to be reviewed urgently and suitably amended.
c. In the case of new laws, it will be advisable to add a ‘local government memorandum’ (on the analogy of financial memorandum and memorandum of subordinate legislation) indicating whether any functions to be attended to by local governments are involved and if so, whether this has been provided for in the law.
d. In case of urban local bodies, in addition to the functions listed in the Twelfth Schedule, the following should be devolved to urban local bodies:
•School education
•Public health, including community health centres /area hospitals;
•Traffic management and civic policing activities; •Urban environment management and heritage; and
•Land management, including registration.
These, however, are only illustrative additional functions and more such functions could be devolved to urban local bodies by the respective States
Framework Law for Local Bodies
a. Government of India should draft and place before Parliament, a Framework Law for local governments. The Framework Law could be enacted under Article 252 of the Constitution on the lines of the South African Act, for the States to adopt. This Law should lay down the broad principles of devolution of powers, responsibilities and functions to the local governments and communities, based on the following:
•Principle of Subsidiarity
•Democratic Decentralisation
•Delineation of Functions
•Devolution in Real Terms
•Convergence
•Citizen Centricity
Decentralised Planning
b. In the interim and in accordance with the present constitutional scheme, DPCs should be constituted in all States within three months of completion of elections to local bodies and should become the sole planning body for the district. The DPC should be assisted by a planning office with a full time District Planning Officer.
c. For urban districts where town planning functions are being done by Development Authorities, these authorities should become the technical/planning arms of the DPCs and ultimately of the District Council.
d. A dedicated centre in every district should be set up to provide inputs to the local bodies for preparations of plans. A two-way flow of information between different levels of government may also be ensured.
e. The guidelines issued by the Planning Commission pertaining to the preparation of the plan for the district and the recommendations of the Expert Group regarding the planning process at the district level should be strictly implemented.
f. Each State Government should develop the methodology of participatory local level planning and provide such support as is necessary to institutionalize a regime of decentralized planning.
g. States may design a planning calendar prescribing the time limits within which each local body has to finalize its plan and send it to the next higher level, to facilitate the preparation of a comprehensive plan for the district.
h. State Planning Boards should ensure that the district plans are integrated with the State plans that are prepared by them. It should be made mandatory for the States to prepare their development plans only after consolidating the plans of the local bodies. The National Planning Commission has to take the initiative in institutionalizing this process.
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Urban Development Management Study notes for M. plan Sem-III
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