Ranchi Municipal Corporation

The commissioner is appointed by the state government. They are either an officer from the Indian Administrative Service or the Jharkhand Administrative Service. According to Section 55 of the Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011, the appointment can be made on regular basis or contractual basis and no time period is mentioned for the position.[9] The present municipal commissioner at Ranchi Municipal Corporation is Mr. Manoj Kumar, a cadre from the Indian Administrative Services.[10]

Some of the powers and functions of the Commissioner are:[9]

• The Standing Committee may delegate some of its power or functions to the commissioner and in turn, the commissioner may delegate their power to any corporation officer or employee (Section 33).
• The Commissioner is supposed to nominate an official to be the secretary of the Ward Committee (Section 34) and Conveyor of Zonal Committees (Section 49).
• The Commissioner can attend any meeting of the corporation or may authorise any corporation officer to attend (Section 82).
• The Commissioner shall prepare a budget estimate every year (Section 108 (1)).
• The Commissioner has to approve every public advertisement in the city (Section 171).
• The Commissioner can serve a notice to an occupier of a land or building for the purpose of the recovery of property tax (Section 185 (1)).

There are 24 administrative departments at Ranchi Municipal Corporation.[11] Some important departments at the Corporation are: Accounts, Birth & Death Registration, Bhoosampada, Engineering, Health, Revenue, Town Planning, and Water supply.

Apart from the municipal commissioner, the Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011 mentions the following key administrative posts to be created at the municipal corporation:[9]

• Chief Finance Officer / Chief Accounts Officer
• Municipal Internal Auditor
• Chief Municipal Engineer
• Chief Town Planner and Municipal Architect
• Chief Municipal Health Officer
• Chief Environmental Engineer (for solid waste management)
• Chief Information and Technology Officer
• Municipal Law Officer
• Municipal Secretary
• Additional and Deputy/Assistant Municipal Commissioners

Under section 26 of the Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011, the positions of mayor and deputy mayor are elected directly i.e. the position holders are voted in by the people themselves.[9] The last municipal election was in 2018 with a voter turnout of 49.3%, up from 38% in the election in 2013.[5][12] Asha Lakra and Vijayawargia – both from the Bharatiya Janta Party – won the mayoral and deputy mayoral seats.[13] The 2018 municipal election was the first time the mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates in Jharkhand could use political party symbols, while the candidates for councilor seats continued to use symbols allotted to them by the Jharkhand State Election Commission.[13][14] The next municipal election will take place in 2023.[7]

Each ward of the corporation is represented by an elected councillor whose term is coterminous with that of the corporation i.e. of five years.[9] For the purpose of election, the councillors can not use party symbols and are instead provided with election symbols by the Jharkhand State Election Commission.[14] According to the Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011, around 50% of the seats are to be reserved for the following categories:

• Scheduled Castes,
• Scheduled Tribes,
• Backward Classes,
• Women

The seats reserved for persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories will be proportionate to their population share in the municipality. The remaining number of seats within the 50% stipulated reserved seats will be reserved for candidates from Other Backward Classes. Further, up to 50% of the reserved seats and up to50% of the unreserved seats will be reserved for women. The seats so reserved will be allotted on a rotational basis i.e. the councillor seat of any particular ward need not be reserved for the same category or be reserved at all in subsequent elections.[9] Presently, there are 55 councillors in Ranchi representing 55 wards.[2][3]

Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011 mandates the establishment of standing committees at every municipality.[9] The mayor is the presiding officer and the term of the members is of five years. Ranchi Municipal Corporation has set up a Standing Committee.[15] The Standing Committee is composed of ten councillors, the mayor, the deputy mayor, the municipal commissioner and RMC officials.[16] The Act also mandates the setting up of Zonal Committees, each representing groups of wards in the city. These too have been formed in Ranchi, with each Zonal Committee having 5–6 wards under it.[4] The function of the Zonal committees is to look after the issues felt at each zone, report them to the corporation, and prepare solutions for the same. The Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011 mandates the establishment of ward committees for each ward in the municipality.[9] Though ward committees have been formed in Ranchi, they are not active.[17]