Urban Local Bodies and the 74th Constitutional Amendment

The Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992 inserted Part IXA (Articles 243P to 243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule into the Constitution, turning municipalities from bodies that existed only at the pleasure of State law into constitutionally required institutions of self-government. It fixes three types of urban local body, a five year term, reserved seats, a State Election Commission, a State Finance Commission and planning committees, and it leaves the detail to State law. In Tamil Nadu that detail now sits mainly in the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998 (Tamil Nadu Act 9 of 1999), as revived and amended.

This explainer is written for B.A. LL.B. and LL.B. students preparing for constitutional law and local government papers, and for any citizen who wants to know why their ward councillor, corporation or town panchayat works the way it does. Knowing the article numbers is the start. Knowing how the Constitution and the State Act fit together is what earns marks and helps you hold a council to account.

What did the 74th Amendment actually change?

Section 1(2) of the Amendment Act left its commencement to a Central Government notification in the Official Gazette. Its core move was to make certain features compulsory in every State. Read the provisions in this order:

• Article 243Q: every State must constitute a Nagar Panchayat for a transitional area, a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area and a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area. The Governor notifies these areas having regard to population, density, revenue, non-agricultural employment and economic importance. An area notified as an industrial township may be kept out of municipal government.
• Article 243R and 243S: seats are filled by direct election from wards, and Wards Committees are compulsory in a municipality with a population of three lakhs or more.
• Article 243T: seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, not less than one-third of directly elected seats are reserved for women, and the State may reserve chairperson offices and seats for backward classes.
• Article 243U: a municipality has a five year term from its first meeting, cannot be dissolved without a reasonable opportunity of being heard, and an election must be completed before the term expires or within six months of a dissolution.
• Article 243V: disqualification follows State law, but a person aged 21 cannot be disqualified only for being under 25.

Where does the money and the work come from?

Article 243W allows the State legislature to give municipalities the powers they need to function as institutions of self-government, including preparing plans for economic development and social justice and carrying out the matters in the Twelfth Schedule. The Schedule lists 18 subjects, among them urban planning, regulation of land use and building construction, water supply, public health and solid waste management, fire services, slum improvement, urban poverty alleviation, parks, burial and cremation grounds, registration of births and deaths, and street lighting and bus stops.

Notice the word "may". Article 243W does not transfer these subjects by itself. The State must legislate. That is why the degree of devolution differs from State to State, and why examiners like to ask whether the Amendment delivered real local self-government.

On finances, Article 243X lets the State authorise municipalities to levy taxes, duties, tolls and fees and to receive assigned taxes and grants-in-aid. Article 243Y requires the Finance Commission set up under Article 243-I (for panchayats) to also review municipal finances and recommend how revenue should be shared. Article 243Z leaves accounts and audit to State law.

Who runs the elections and the planning?

Under Article 243ZA, the superintendence, direction and control of electoral rolls and municipal elections vests in the State Election Commission constituted under Article 243K. Article 243ZD requires a District Planning Committee in every district, with not less than four-fifths of its members elected from among the elected members of panchayats and municipalities, in proportion to the rural and urban population. Article 243ZE requires a Metropolitan Planning Committee for every metropolitan area, which is an area with a population of ten lakhs or more, and at least two-thirds of its members must be elected from among municipal members and panchayat chairpersons.

Article 243ZG is the provision most often tested. Courts cannot question laws on delimitation of wards or allotment of seats made under Article 243ZA, and no municipal election can be called in question except by an election petition presented to the authority and in the manner provided by State law.

How does Tamil Nadu apply Part IXA in 2026?

The Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998 was enacted as Tamil Nadu Act 9 of 1999 to consolidate the laws on municipalities and municipal corporations, but section 1(3) left its commencement to a Government notification. A 2022 Bill was moved to revive and further amend it, and by G.O. Ms. No. 44, Municipal Administration and Water Supply (Election) Department, dated 12 April 2023, the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Tamil Nadu Act 35 of 2022) was brought into force from 13 April 2023. Key provisions in the consolidated text published by the State Finance Commission include:

1. Section 3: classification by population and annual income. As printed, a town panchayat needs at least 10,000 people and Rs 30 lakh income, a municipal council 30,000 people and Rs 50 lakh, and a municipal corporation 3 lakh people and Rs 30 crore.
2. Section 4: town panchayats and municipalities formed under the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920, and the corporations formed under their separate city Acts, are deemed to be constituted under this Act.
3. Section 5: the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission controls electoral rolls and elections.
4. Section 30: an election petition goes to the Principal District Judge of the district where the municipality is situated, within 45 days from the date of publication of the result. A candidate or an elector of the ward may file it, and every candidate at the election must be made a respondent.
5. Section 38: Mayor offices in corporations are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, and not less than fifty per cent of all Mayor offices in the State are reserved for women.
6. Sections 49-C to 49-H: a Ward Sabha for each ward and up to ten Area Sabhas in a ward, chaired by the ward councillor, with Area Sabha membership drawn from the electoral rolls of that area.

So if a resident of a town panchayat in Kanyakumari District wants to challenge a councillor's election, the route is a petition to the Principal District Judge within 45 days, not a writ petition straight to the Madras High Court. That is Article 243ZG and section 30 working together. Check the current consolidated text before relying on any threshold or time limit, because the Act has been amended several times since 2022.

How should you write about this in an exam?

• Open with the purpose: constitutional status, regular elections and devolution, then name Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule.
• Pair each article with its State counterpart. Article 243ZA with section 5, Article 243ZG with section 30, Article 243S with the Wards Committee and the Ward and Area Sabha provisions.
• Distinguish mandatory provisions (Articles 243Q, 243T, 243U, 243Y, 243ZA) from enabling ones (Articles 243W and 243X). This is the heart of any critical answer.
• Compare with the 73rd Amendment: Article 243-I and 243K are shared machinery, and the Gram Sabha has an urban cousin in the Ward and Area Sabha.
• Cite the leading Supreme Court decisions on Article 243U (timely elections) and Article 243T (backward class reservation) from your prescribed casebook, with the exact title and year from the official report. Do not rely on a case name you have only seen in a coaching note.

If you want to see how ward-level grievances reach a forum in practice, the volunteers at the college legal aid clinic regularly meet residents with civic complaints.

Sources

• Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992 (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs): full text of Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule.
• Part IXA, Constitution of India: article-wise index of Articles 243P to 243ZG.
• Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998 (Tamil Nadu State Finance Commission): consolidated text with amendments.
• Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 123, 12 April 2023: notification bringing the 2022 Amendment Act into force from 13 April 2023.
• Tamil Nadu Bill No. 34 of 2022 (PRS Legislative Research): Bill to revive and amend the 1998 Act, including Ward and Area Sabha provisions.
• Tamil Nadu Act 9 of 1999 (PRS Legislative Research): the Act as originally enacted.