ERODE CITY
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ACT, 2008 THE ERODE CITY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ACT, 2008[1] [Act No. 8 of 2008] An Act to provide for the establishment of a Municipal Corporation
for the City of Erode. Be it enacted by the
Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu in the Fifty-ninth Year of the
Republic of India as follows:-- (1)
This Act may be called the Erode City Municipal Corporation Act,
2008. (2)
It extends to the city of Erode. (3)
It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of
January 2008. (1)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a)
"city of Erode" or "city " means the local
area comprised in the Erode Municipality and includes any local area which,
after the date of the commencement of this Act, is included in the City but
does not include any local area which, after such date of the commencement of
this Act, is excluded from the City; (b)
"corporation " means the municipal corporation of Erode
constituted under Section 3; (c)
"council" means council of municipal corporation of
Erode; (d)
"date of the commencement of this Act" means the date
appointed under sub-section (3) of Section 1; (e)
"Government" means the State Government; (f)
"municipal council" means the municipal council of Erode
municipality; (g)
"municipality " means the Erode Municipality; (h)
"Scheduled Castes " and "Scheduled Tribes "
shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in clauses (24) and (25)
of Article 366 of the Constitution; (2)
All words and expressions used in this Act and not defined but
defined in the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act, 1981 (Tamil Nadu Act
25 of 1981) (hereinafter referred to as the 1981 Act), shall have the meanings,
respectively, assigned to them in the 1981 Act. (1) With
effect on and from the date of the commencement of this Act, the local area
included in the Erode Municipality shall constitute the city of Erode for the
purposes of this Act and from such date of the commencement of this Act, a
municipal corporation shall be deemed to have been established for the said
city by the name of Erode City Municipal Corporation: Provided that the
Government may, from time to time, after consultation with the corporation, by
notification, alter the limits of the city constituted under this sub-section
so as to include therein or to exclude therefrom the areas specified in the
notification : Provided further that the
power to issue a notification under this subsection shall be subject to
previous publication. (2)
The corporation shall, by the said name, be a body corporate,
having perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and
dispose of property and to enter into contracts and may by its corporate name,
sue and be sued. (3)
The Erode Municipality functioning immediately before the date of
the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been abolished from such
date of the commencement of this Act. The municipal authorities
charged with carrying out the provisions of this Act shall be,-- (1)
a council; (2)
a standing committee; (3)
a wards committee; and (4)
a commissioner. (1)
Save as otherwise provided in subsection (2), the council shall
consist of such number of councillors elected in the manner laid down in this
Act as may be fixed by the Government, by notification, from time to time, so,
however, that the total number of councillors of the council shall not exceed
seventy-two at any time. (2)
The following persons shall also be represented in the council,
namely:-- (a)
the members of the House of the People representing constituencies
which comprise wholly or partly the area of the corporation and the members of
the Council of States registered as electors within the area of the
corporation; (b)
all the members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly the area of the
corporation. (3)
The persons referred to in sub-section (2) shall be entitled to
take part in the proceedings but shall not have the right to vote in the
meetings of the council. (4)
Seats shall be reserved for the persons belonging to the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the council and the number of seats so
reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total
number of seats to be filled by direct election in the council as the
population of the Scheduled Castes in the city or of the Scheduled Tribes in
the city bears to the total population of the city. (5)
Seats shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, from among the seats reserved for the persons
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, which shall not be
less than one-third of the total number of seats reserved for the persons
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. (6)
Seats shall be reserved for women in the council and the number of
seats reserved for women shall not be less than one-third including the number
of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes of the total number of seats in the council. (7)
The reservation of seats under sub-sections (4) and (5) shall
cease to have effect on the expiry of the period specified in Article 334 of
the Constitution. (1)
The corporation, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five
years from the date appointed for its first meeting after each ordinary
election and no longer and the said period of five years shall operate as a
dissolution of the corporation. (2)
An election to constitute the corporation shall be completed,-- (a)
before the expiry of its duration specified in sub-section (1); or (b)
before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of
its dissolution: Provided that where the
remainder of the period for which the dissolved corporation would have
continued, is less than six months, it shall not be necessary to hold any
election, under this sub-section for constituting the corporation for such
period. (1)
Subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3), the Tamil
Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920 (Tamil Nadu Act V of 1920) (hereinafter
referred to as the "District Municipalities Act") shall, with effect
on and from the date of the commencement of this Act, cease to apply to the
local area comprised within the city of Erode. (2)
Such cessor shall not affect,-- (a)
the previous operation of the District Municipalities Act in
respect of the local area comprised within the city of Erode; (b)
any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred in respect of any
offence committed against the District Municipalities Act; or (c)
any investigation, legal proceedings or remedy in respect of such
penalty, forfeiture or punishment, and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment
may be imposed as if this Act, had not been passed. (3)
Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), all
appointments, notifications, notices, Rules, bye-laws, regulations, orders,
directions, licences, permissions, schemes, forms and powers, made or issued or
conferred under the District Municipalities Act and in force on the date of the
commencement of this Act shall, so far as they are not inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act, continue to be in force in the local area comprised within
the city of Erode until they are replaced by the appointments, notifications,
notices, Rules, bye-laws, regulations, orders, directions, licences,
permissions, schemes, forms and powers to be made or issued or conferred under
this Act. (1)
Save as otherwise expressly provided herein, all the provisions of
the 1981 Act, including the provisions relating to the levy and collection of
any tax or fee are hereby extended to and shall apply, mutatis mutandis to the
corporation and the 1981 Act shall, in relation to the corporation be read and
construed as if the provisions of this Act had formed part of the 1981 Act. (2)
For the purpose of facilitating the application of the provisions
of the 1981 Act to the corporation, the Government may, by notification, make
such adaptations and modifications of the 1981 Act and the Rules and bye-laws
made thereunder, whether by way of repealing, amending or suspending any
provision thereof, as may be necessary or expedient and thereupon, the 1981 Act
and the Rules made thereunder, shall apply to the corporation subject to the
adaptations and modifications so made. (3)
Notwithstanding that no provision or insufficient provision has
been made under sub-section (2) for the adaptation of the provisions of the
1981 Act, or the Rules and bye-laws made thereunder, any Court, Tribunal or
Authority required or empowered to enforce these provisions may, for the
purpose of facilitating their application to the corporation, construe these
provisions in such manner, without affecting the substance, as may be necessary
or proper having regard to the matter before the Court, Tribunal or Authority. (4)
In the 1981 Act as extended and applied to the city of Erode,-- (a)
any reference to the city of Coimbatore and Coimbatore
Municipality, shall by reason of this Act, be construed as a reference to the
city of Erode and Erode Municipality, respectively; and (b)
any reference to the Coimbatore Corporation, Corporation of
Coimbatore and Municipal Corporation of Coimbatore, shall by reason of this
Act, be construed as a reference to the Erode Corporation, Corporation of Erode
and Municipal Corporation of Erode, respectively. (1)
All property, all rights of whatever kind, used, enjoyed or
possessed by, and all interests of whatever kind owned by, or vested in, or
held in trust by or for the municipal council, with all rights of whatever kind
used, enjoyed or possessed by the said municipal council as well as all
liabilities legally subsisting against the said council, on and from the date
of the commencement of this Act and subject to such directions as the
Government may, by general or special order, give in this behalf, vest with the
corporation. (2)
All arrears of taxes or other payments by way of composition for a
tax, or due for expenses or compensation, or otherwise due to the said
municipal council on the date of such commencement may be recovered as if they
had accrued to the corporation and may be recovered as if the said arrears or
payments had become due, under the provisions of this Act. (3)
All taxes, fees and duties, which immediately before the date of
the commencement of this Act were being levied by the said municipal council
shall be deemed to have been levied by the corporation under the provisions of
this Act and shall continue to be in force accordingly until such taxes, fees
and duties are revised, cancelled or superseded by anything done or any action
taken under this Act. (4)
All proceedings taken by, or against, the municipal council or
authority or any person under the District Municipalities Act may be continued
by, or against, the corporation, authority or person as if the said proceedings
had been commenced under the provisions of this Act. (5)
Any action taken under the District Municipalities Act, by any
authority before the date of such commencement shall be deemed to have been
taken by the authority competent to take such action under this Act as if this
Act had been in force. (6)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, every officer or
employee who, immediately before the date of the commencement of this Act was
in the service of the municipality shall, on and from the date of such
commencement be deemed to be an officer or employee of the corporation: Provided that, -- (a)
the terms and conditions applicable to such officers and employees
consequent on their absorption in the service of the corporation shall not be
less favourable than those applicable to such employees immediately before the
date of such commencement, as regards pay and allowances, leave, pension,
gratuity, provident fund and age of superannuation; and (b)
the service rendered by any such officer or other employee under
the municipality upto the date of such commencement shall be deemed to be
service under the corporation and he shall be entitled to count that service
for the purpose of increment, leave, pension, provident fund and gratuity: Provided further that any
officer or other employee serving in the municipality shall be given an option
to be exercised within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed either
to be absorbed in the service of the corporation or to be transferred to the
service referred to in Section 73-A of the District Municipalities Act or to be
retrenched from the service of the municipality on such retrenchment benefits
as may be prescribed. (7)
Any division of the Erode municipality into wards, made under the
District Municipalities Act, and in force on the date of the commencement of
this Act shall be deemed to be a division of the corporation until altered. (8)
The electoral roll prepared for the Erode Municipality under the
District Municipalities Act, and in force on the date of the commencement of
this Act, shall be deemed to be the electoral roll for the corporation until a
new electoral roll is prepared and published and the part of the said electoral
roll relating to each ward of the municipality shall be deemed to be the list
of the electoral roll for the corresponding division of the corporation. (9)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Chairman,
Vice-Chairman and the Councillors of the Erode Municipality, who are elected
and holding office as such immediately before the date of the commencement of
this Act, shall be deemed to be the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and councillors of the
Erode City Municipal Corporation elected under this Act and such Mayor, Deputy
Mayor and councillors shall continue to hold office upto such date as the
Government may, by notification, fix in this behalf or, in case no such date is
fixed, upto the date on which their term of office would expire under the
District Municipalities Act and such Mayor, Deputy Mayor and councillors shall
exercise all the powers and perform all duties conferred on the Mayor, Deputy
Mayor and councillors by or under this Act, (1)
The Government may make Rules for carrying out the purposes of
this Act. (2)
(a) All Rules made under this Act shall be published In the Tamil
Nadu Government Gazette and, unless they are expressed to come into force on a
particular day, shall come into force on the day on which they are so
published. (b) All notifications
issued under this Act shall, unless they are expressed to come into force on a particular
day, come into force on the day on which they are so published. (3) Every
Rule made or notification or order issued under this Act shall as soon as
possible, after it is made or issued, be placed on the table of the Legislative
Assembly, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so placed or
the next session, the Assembly makes any modification in any such Rule or
notification or order, or the Assembly decides that the Rule or notification or
order should not be made or issued, the Rule or notification or order shall
thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the
case may be, so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be
without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that Rule
or notification or order. If any difficulty arises in
giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government may, by an order
published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act as appear to them to be necessary or expedient
for removing the difficulty: Provided that no such order
shall be made after the expiry of two years from the date of the commencement
of this Act. (1)
The Erode City Municipal Corporation Ordinance, 2007 (Tamil Nadu
Ordinance 7 of 2007) is hereby repealed. (2)
Notwithstanding such repeal anything done any action taken or any
direction given under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done,
taken or given under this Act. [1] Received
the Assent of the Governor of Tamil Nadu on February 19, 2008 -- Published in
Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, Extraordinary, Part IV, Section 2, Iss. No.55,
pages 19-23, dated February 21, 2008.
Preamble - THE ERODE CITY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ACT, 2008PREAMBLE