Though the Ward Councilors and the Chennai Corporation or the ‘Ripon Building’ they represent are prominent enough, information about their duties, or records of their actions are either a hassle to access or are hardly publicized. Though some information has been voluntarily published, it has not been put across widely enough, or in a form which can be easily processed. One example is the Resolutions passed at the monthly Council Meetings, whose copies have been published online (in Tamil) since July 2007 on the Chennai Corporation Website.[1]

These resolutions are plans of action or solutions to grievances pertaining either to individual wards, a group of wards or the whole of Chennai Corporation. They form the bulk of the Councilor’s active involvement in local area development. Decisions relating to the construction or demolition of buildings, implementation of laws which have been passed, processing of schemes which have been suggested and changes in officials or position designations are just a few of the plethora of resolutions passed monthly. A rough translation of the latest set of Resolutions, passed at the Council Meeting dated 31/01/2011, has been put up on the Transparent Chennai site’s data page about Municipal Councilors. (Type Resolutions in the search bar once you click on this link)[2]

The process of passing a resolution begins at the Ward Committee level, where individual Councilors may present concerns about the needs of his Ward or the status of Municipal Works in the area. At the next stage, the Commissioner and the relevant Standing Committees approve the resolutions, which have already been approved by the Ward Committee, unless they are cancelled by the State Government.[3] As directed in the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act 1919, there are 6 Standing Committees, namely Accounts, Public Health, Works, Taxation and Finance, Education and Town Planning.[4] These Standing Committees are to meet at least a month, and consist of 15 members elected by the Council.

At the final stage, they are discussed at the monthly Council Meetings convened by the Mayor in the presence of other Ward Councilors. If a resolution or order passed by the Council goes against any provision in any Act, by-law, rule or notification or is unjust, the Commissioner may then refer the issue to the State Government.[5] Once it is passed, it is the Commissioner’s and relevant departments’ responsibility to ensure it is carried out. This order of proceedings, which has been directed by the Chennai Municipal Corporation Act 1919, can be seen in the Dates of the Commissioner’s Entry, Standing Committee Meetings and Council Meetings.[6]

From viewing the copies available online, the resolutions appear to have been quite clearly written, with most containing a brief explanation of the issue, descriptions of related issues and officials, a brief timeline of progress, and Ward and Zone details where relevant. The set of resolutions pertaining to a specific project or scheme can give us comprehensive information about it and often, the stage it is or is supposed to be at.

Data presentation prevents accountability

However, it is only in some cases that the details of who actually pushed the resolution are given, making it difficult to judge who is more involved or less involved in promoting works either in their own wards or the city. Also, we observed discrepancies in the dates of the Council meetings at which the resolutions were passed; resolutions passed on certain months are missing, as seen in the ordered list of resolutions presented online available here[7], leaving a lot more to be desired in the attempts to make these public releases more accessible and visible.

Though the raw information itself is quite accessible, the extraction of relevant data proves to be a real task.  Obtaining information specifically relevant to a member of a ward or an employee of a department or organization is difficult. Unless specific information about when a specific resolution was passed is at hand or unless sections of the report relevant to certain Ward Councilors have been extracted and kept at their offices, (as a Councilor we spoke to claimed he did), looking for a particular piece of information means manually sifting through yearly reports (which have all been published only in Tamil) to obtain the required information, a mammoth task.

This leaves us to question: Even though the council resolutions are published online, without this information being as accessible, searchable, and comprehensible as it could be, is the Council truly accountable to the public?

Charumathi Raja, summer intern for Transparent Chennai, 2nd year Economics student at the University of Warwick, UK

[1] http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/mayor/CMSPages.do?do=councilResolutionsList

[2] Excel Workbook of Rough Translations of Resolutions, as passed at the Council Meeting dated 31/01/2011(Sheet 1)

[3] Corporation of Chennai, “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.”, Chapter 2, The Several Authorities

[4] Corporation of Chennai, “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.”, Chapter 2, The Municipal Authorities of the Corporation.

[5] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 23.Functions of council.

[6] Excel Workbook of Rough Translations of Resolutions, as passed at the Council Meeting dated 31/01/2011(Sheet 1)

[7] Excel Workbook of Resolutions Available Online (Sheet 2)

As the Municipal elections draw closer and we try to find ways to analyze the performance of the Councilors, let us first assess the data that is at hand and its ability to provide a nuanced analysis of a Councilor’s performance. Transparent Chennai collected information through RTI applications and personal visits to the Chennai Corporation.

We filed RTIs at individual Zonal Offices to their Public Information Officers, the Executive Engineers, to get data on attendance and minutes of Ward Committee meetings and the Councilor-wise expenditure from their Ward Improvement Works Fund. At the Corporation, we approached the Council Department to obtain Council Proceedings Official Report for data on attendance, questions asked and speeches made at the Council meetings. This data was translated from Tamil and manually tabulated for every Council meeting from 2007 to 2011.

Data Collected

-          Attendance at Ward Committee and Council meetings held between 2007-11

-          Questions asked and Speeches made at these Council meetings

-          Resolutions passed by the Council

-          Expenditure from the Councilor Ward Improvement Works Fund

From the mountain of raw data collected, we filled spreadsheet after spreadsheet with information, neatly formatted and beautiful to look at . Our aim was to organize and analyse this data to understand the performance of individual Councilors during their term of 5 years. But a closer look revealed that not everything was flawless.

Analysis of Collected Data-

Questions and Speeches: May not be the best measure of performance

There are around 15 questions asked and 15 speeches made by Councilors in pre-decided order at every Council meeting. The questions asked and speeches made at the Council depend on the allotment provided by the Council department to various political parties on the basis of their strength in the Council and hence, cannot be completely indicative of the Councilor’s own efforts to represent his/her ward at the Council.

Councilor Ward Development Scheme: Incomplete information for accountability

The information about Councilors Ward Improvement Works expenditure tells us how much a Councilor has spent to develop his/her ward but we cannot assess the quality of this expenditure because details of spending were not made available to us even after an RtI request. Moreover, we heard informally that proposed expenditures from certain Council members were blocked because of their party affiliation, so the spending does not always correlate well with the performance of the Councilor.

Resolutions: Incomplete information for accountability

Resolutions are an important measure of the work done by a Councilor. Overlapping data on attendance of Councilors with the number of resolutions they have passed can help us understand whether attendance at these meetings is in any way reflective of the work they do. The resolutions passed at the Council are put up on the Chennai Corporation website. However, the information on this website is not complete. There are several months of resolutions missing. Many of the resolutions available on the website have been wrongly labelled. These gaps in data are difficult to discern from the website unless you are privy to the dates of the past meetings and the number of resolutions passed in each.

Even when these gaps are filled, the resolutions information is kept in such a manner that every resolution cannot be attributed to a single ward or Councilor, making it less useful for understanding an individual Councilor’s performance.

Attendance: May not directly reflect performance

Good attendance at Council is important, but it does not necessarily mean that councillors are active. In our RTIs to the Zonal offices we asked for the minutes of the Ward Committee meetings. Only Zone 6 responded to this request by emailing us the soft copy of their Ward Committee meetings minutes. The minutes contained information on the resolutions put forward by Councilors in each meeting, from 2007 to 2011.

From the minutes of the Zone 6 Ward Committee, we find that while all the Councilors have attended every meeting of the Ward Committee between 2007 and 2011, there is extreme variation in the number of resolutions they have put forward. Almost all the Councilors have presented 5 or more resolutions excepting Ward 92 which had only one and Ward 87 which presented none. Ward 91 and Ward 95 have been very active with 25 and 21 each. Ward 94 has been present at every Council meeting from January 2007 to May 2011 but has passed only 5 resolutions during the same period.

Our assumption that collecting data would be a difficult was not wrong, but it wasn’t the only stumbling block. Attendance, funds and resolutions are the just the first step to understanding and assessing Councilor performance, but each piece of data has its limitations.

Meryl Mary Sebastian

Every election, we vote.

Actually those of us who are above 18, have an election ID, have our names on the voter’s list and think it is our right and duty- that bunch of people vote.

We stand in line to elect a person who will represent us. When we elect this representative- what do we expect of them? What is our criterion for evaluating their performance? To have a criterion for evaluation, we need to know what their duties, responsibilities, functions are.

Here is what the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 says-

The local government in Chennai is the Municipal Corporation of Chennai. The Municipal Corporation constitutes of[1] –

Council

Mayor

Ward Committees

Standing Committees

Commissioner

Council

Chennai city is divided into 155 wards[2]. The wards are further grouped into 30 units[3]. Each Unit has a Unit Officer. The wards are also grouped under 10 zones.

Each ward has an elected representative called the Ward Councillor. These Councillors form the Council at the Municipal Corporation. The Members of Parliament and the Members of the State Legislative Assembly of those constituencies that lie within the Chennai Corporation Area are also members of this Council but they do not have voting rights[4].

Meetings – 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. The minutes book is kept in the municipal office and can be inspected by any Councillor.

All the meetings of the Council are open to the public[5].

Functions- The Council has to go through the periodical receipts, disbursements

from the Municipal fund, progress reports and pass the necessary resolutions. The Council cannot perform any of the functions assigned to the Commissioner or the Standing Committees. However, 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.[6]

The Council or any Standing Committee can ask the Commissioner to furnish any record or document under his control, accounts and plans of the administration and reports on any subject connected to the municipal administration. [7]

The Council can make by-laws on various matters such as taxes, public works like lighting, drainage, sanitation. Every by-law has to be sanctioned by the State Government.[8]

The Council can form a Joint Committee with any local authority for any purpose that is of common interest.[9]

Functions of Individual Councillors – A Councillor can bring to notice of the proper authority the neglect of municipal work, wastage of municipal property, communicate the needs of his ward and suggest improvements. A Councillor has access to the records of the Corporation and can peruse them giving due notice to the Commissioner. The Commissioner can forbid a Councillor’s access to records. In such a case, the Councillor can appeal to the Mayor who will take the final decision[10].

Mayor

The Mayor is elected during the corporation elections and is not the Councillor of any Ward. The Mayor is an ex-officio member of the Council and enjoys the same rights and privileges as the Councillors. The Deputy Mayor is elected from among the Councillors. Both the Mayor and the Deputy-Mayor are ineligible for re-election at the end of their term[11].

The Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and the Councillors are not given any salary or remuneration out of the Corporation funds[12]


Ward Committees

According to the 74th Amendment, for large urban areas there need to be three

tiers – the Ward Committee, The Zone Committee and the Corporation[13]. In Chennai, the Ward Committee is the Zone Committee. The Ward Councillors of every Zone form the Ward Committee.  Members of the Ward Committee elect a Chairman from among themselves[14]. It is in the hands of the Council to devolve responsibilities and duties to the Ward Committees[15].

Standing Committees

As directed in the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 there are six Standing Committees – Accounts, Education, Public Health, Town Planning, Works, Taxation & Finance. The members of the Council elect 15 members for each Standing Committee. Every Standing committee is to conduct a meeting atleast once a month. Atleast 3 members need to be present for any business to be transacted. The minutes of the proceedings are entered in a book and signed by the Chairman. The Council can ask for and inspect the minutes book any time. [16]

Commissioner

The Commissioner is appointed by the State Government. Other officers are also

appointed by the State Government to assist the Commissioner. The Commissioner performs only those functions that are authorized by the Council and the State Government. The ‘methods of recruitment, conditions of service, pay and allowances and discipline and conduct of the commissioner’ is controlled by the State Government. The Commissioner has the custody of all the records of the Corporation. The office of the Commissioner is vested with the executive power of carrying out the provisions of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act,1919. The salary and allowances of the Commissioner are paid by the State Government out of the Municipal Funds[17].

The Commissioner can attend the meeting of the Council and the meetings of the

various Committees but cannot move any resolution or vote.[18]

The Act is very specific about the role and responsibilities of members of various Committees, the Commissioner and the bureaucracy led by him. But interestingly, for our representative, the individual Councillors, there aren’t concrete responsibilities laid out. So what do they do? More on that later.

[1] Corporation of Chennai. Constitution of Council. , Web. <http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/council/index.htm>.

[2] Corporation of Chennai. Constitution of Council. , Web. <http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/council/index.htm>.

[3] Government of Tamil Nadu. Citizen’s Charter. Corporation of Chennai, General Department, General Statistics , Web. <http://www.tn.gov.in/citizen/corpchn.html>.

[4] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II,Constitution of the Council.

[5] Corporation of Chennai, “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.”, Schedule II, Rules regarding proceeding of the  Council and Committees.

[6] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 23.Functions of council.

[7] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 26. Requisition by council or a committee for commissioner’s

records.

[8] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter XIV, 349.Powers of council to make by-laws.

[9] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 27-A.Appointment of Joint Committee.

[10] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 25.Duties and powers of individual councilor.

[11] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, Section 28-30.

[12] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 25-A.Mayor,DeputyMayor or councilor not to receive remuneration.

[13] Hamid, Areeba. “74th Amendment: An Overview.”Centre for Civil Society (2004). <http://www.ccsindia.org/ccsindia/interns2004/2.%2074th%20Amendment_Areeba.pdf>

[14] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II,6-G, Election and term of office of chairman of wards committee.

[15] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 6-H,Powers and functions of wards committee.

[16] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.”Schedule II, Section 14-20.

[17] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, Section 7-10.

[18] Corporation of Chennai. “The Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919.” Chapter II, 33.Commissioner when to attend meetings.

Meryl Mary Sebastian