Performance Indicators
Performance Indicators
Attendance at Council Meetings- According to the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, the Council should meet in the municipal office once every month on the date and time arranged by the Mayor. There need to be atleast 50 members in attendance for any business to be transacted. The minutes of the proceedings of the Council are entered in the minutes book which is signed by the Mayor[1]. According to the Council Department, there is an attendance ledger maintained in which each Councilor attending the meeting signs.
Transparent Chennai obtained Council Proceedings Official Reports from the Council Department at the Corporation for the years 2007-2011. We have manually tabulated attendance for every meeting from these reports.
Attendance at Ward Committee Meetings- At every Zone there is a Ward Committee formed by the Councilors of that Zone. Members of the Ward Committee elect a Chairman from among themselves[2]. Ward Committee meetings are conducted every month at the respective Zonal offices. The minutes and attendance of these meetings are kept at the Zonal offices. Councilors present their ward’s grievances and needs at these meetings in order of their Wards. Resolutions are read out and debated upon.
The meetings are presided over by the Ward Committee Chairman. Apart from the Councilors of the Zone, the meetings are also attended by the Assistant Commissioner, Executive Engineer, Assistant Engineer from the Zonal Electricity Board office, Assistant Health Officer, Assistant Revenue Officers, Assistant Executive Engineers, Junior Engineers and Metrowater Officers.
Transparent Chennai filed RTIs to the Public Information Officers (Executive Engineers) in each Zone.
Questions- Every Council meeting has a question hour where Councilors ask questions pertaining to their ward or the city. The questions are submitted before-hand to the Council Department and are answered by the Mayor at the meeting. According to the Council Department, the questions are allotted to the various parties according to their strength in the Council. Not more than 15 questions are asked per meeting. The question hour is followed by speeches, of which there are usually 15 as well.
The Council Proceedings Official Reports of the Council meetings are kept only in Tamil. We obtained these reports from the Council Department, translated this information into English and tabulated the questions asked in every meeting and recorded who asked them, and the number of speeches and the councilor that made them from 2007-2011.
Resolutions- From talking to a Ward Councilor one understands that they, informally, interact with their constituents and use meetings at the Ward Committee and the Council to give voice to their needs. Requests by the Councilor that are approved at the Ward Committee meetings are presented at the Council meetings and result in resolutions.The Council department says that at every meeting the Council passes around 100-150 resolutions and each of these is published in the report of the meeting. The resolutions are also put up on the website of the Chennai Corporation. Any resolution or order passed by the Council has to be followed by the Standing Committees and the Commissioner unless it is cancelled by the State Government. If a resolution or order passed by the Council counters a provision in any Act, by-law, rule or notification or is unjust, then the Commissioner may refer the matter to the State Government.[3]
Although resolutions are an important measure of the work done by a Councilor, the way the data is currently organised, a lot of them cannot be attributed to a single ward or Councilor. This makes it difficult to use this data as a measure of a Councilor’s performance. Therefore, to give an understanding of the process of passing a resolution and the kind of resolutions passed, we have analysed the resolutions passed in the Council meeting of 31st January, 2011.
Funds-The Councilors are also provided with a fund called the Councilors Ward Improvement Works, a specific sum each year to use for the development of his/her ward. The funds come to the Corporation from the State Government. Resolution 126 passed on 26.4.2004 details the guidelines for the use of this fund. During 2007-08, the allotment per Councilor was Rs.7 lakh which was increased to Rs. 15 lakh in 2008-09. It was further increased to Rs. 25 lakh in 2009-2010.
The Mayor also has Special Development Funds which he can use for the city. The allotment in 2007-08 was Rs. 50 lakh. This was increased to Rs. 200 lakh in 2009-10.
Transparent Chennai filed RTIs for the information on Councilor funds to the Public Information Officers (Executive Engineers) in each Zone. The data on total allotment and expenditure of Councilor and Mayor funds was obtained from an RTI filed to the Financial Advisor at the Finance Department, Chennai Corporation.
Council Attendance Details and Analysis
Ward Committee Meetings Attendance Details and Analysis
Mayor Funds and Councilor Aggregate and Detailed Ward Development Funds
Councillor Resolutions of Jan 2011 Translated
Councilor Questions aggregate and analysis
Councilor Speeches aggregate and analysis
Combined Aggregate Question Speeches Attendance Partywise Question and Speeches Analysis
Zone 6 Ward committee resolutions- details and aggregate
2007 Council Questions and Speeches
2008 Council Questions and Speeches
2009 Council Questions and Speeches
2010 Council Questions and Speeches
2011 Council Questions and Speeches
External Resources
Corporation of Chennai, “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.”, Schedule II, Rules regarding proceeding of the Council and Committees.
Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II,6-G, Election and term of office of chairman of wards committee.
Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 23.Functions of council.