History of local governance in Kerala

Kerala, a state lying in the south-west part of India, has a long tradition of local governance. Before independence the three different regions in Kerala had been under different administrative systems.

The northern region, reaching up to the present day district of Thrissur constituted the Malabar district of Madras Presidency. The evolution of local bodies in northern Kerala was determined by legislation in the Madras Presidency, which run parallel to Bengal. The central and the southern Kerala had not been under direct British rule. There existed two princely states, the State of Travancore in the southern part and the State of Cochin in the central region. In 1956 after the state reorganisation, the modem State of Kerala came into existence. In 1960 a uniform system of local governments was established covering the three regions as a consequence of the enactment of the Kerala Panchayat Act and the Kerala Municipality Act.

In Madras province, as in the rest of British India, local self-governments were essentially urban in origin. The recommendations of the Royal Army Sanitary Commission aiming at establishing the civic requirements worked as an important factor that contributed to enactment of the Madras Towns Improvement Act of 1865. Within two years, under the provisions of the Act. municipalities were established in the major urban centres of Malabar at Calicut. Kannur, Thalassery. and Palakkad and at Fort Cochin. The Fort Cochin was an enclave which was directly governed by the British in central Kerala. Those municipalities were having nominated councils dominated by the bureaucracy . The Town Improvement Act of 1871 provided for election of a section of the councillors by the taxpayers, and for having an elected vice-president for the council. Following the much talked Rippon Resolution, the Madras Municipal Act of 1884 was passed which increased the number of elected councillors to three-fourths of the total. The election of the Chairman of the Council will be from among the members. The Act widened the taxation powers and functions of the municipalities. The district collector continued to enjoy extensive discretionary powers. The subsequent amendments in the law in 1920 and 1930, both the element of democratic processes and the functions of municipalities were enhanced. The local self-governance in Malabar area was confined to the Malabar District Board, which had its origin in the Local Fund Circle, with a nominated local board under the president-ship of the collector constituted under the Local Funds Act of Madras 1871. Local boards which managed the local funds had to attend to construction and maintenance of roads and other ways of transport, hospitals and schools, drainage, water supply, and other local works. The Madras Local Boards Act of 1884 introduced the three-tier structure and the provision for elected representation. A revenue village or group of villages constituted the lowest unit, called Union. Above the Unions, there were the taluk boards and at the district level there was the district board. The expenses for them were met from taxes on land, houses, carts, and animals.

Rural local governance

After the First World War, the rural local bodies took firm roots. In 1920 the Madras Village Panchayat Act and the Madras Local Boards Act were passed. Initially, the taluk boards were presided over by a revenue officer of the division and the District Board by the collector. From 1930. the Malabar District Board became an elected body with an elected president; the first president of which was a local landlord. The district board later became a focal point of nationalist activities and was captured by Indian National Congress in 1934. In the next election, the leftists also gained a significant presence, and in 1954 a clear majority in them. The Taluk Boards were later abolished and the District Boards were created. After independence, the Madras Village Punchayat Act of 1950 considerably enhanced the powers of the local governments. A pancHayat was constituted in every village with a population of not less than 500 and reservations were introduced for inclusion of Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The Act provided for direct election for the office of the president. The number of members of panchayts varied according to the population of the panchayat. The panchayals were divided into class I and class II based on population. The panchayats were entrusted with a variety of functions, some of which were categorised as obligatory functions and others as voluntary functions. The obligatory functions were construction and maintenance of public roads, public lighting, drainage, sanitation, drinking water, and preventive health measures. The voluntary functions were fairly large and related to education and health. The panchayats also had certain amount of limited judicial pow-ers. The main sources of revenue were taxes on buildings, profession, vehicles, and entertainment. They were also entitled to 10 grants, albeit limited, from the government. The last elections to the panchayats and local boards were held in 1954 in which there was clear majority for the left parties. The nationalist and leftist presence in the district board was a significant influence in shaping its activities. The Malabar District Board made monumental contribution to the spread of education in Malabar.

In Travancore region

Urban local governance

In the southern region Travancore, Town Improvement Committees were formed in Trivandrum, Nagercoil. Alleppey. and Kottayam. following the Town Improvement and Conservancy Regulation of 1894. In 1912, that the right to voting in election has been made exclusive to tax payers. Sanitation was the main focus area of the committees. Apart from sanitation, construction and maintenance of public wells, roads, and market places were also undertaken by the Committees. The Municipal Act of 1920 expanded the scope of responsibilities of the urban local bodies to education and health sectors. The capital city of Thiruvananthapuram had a committee with an official nominated by the government as its president. But the other councils in Travancore area had elected presidents. In 1941. Thiruvananthapuram has been made a city corporation with an elected Mayor.

Rural local governance

In the erstwhile ‘’’Travancore’’’ region in August 1925, the system of Local Self Government was extended to rural areas by a regulation called ‘’’Village Panchayat Regulation’ VII of 1100 Malayalam Era.' A special feature of this Act was that it delegated certain judicial functions to the Panchayats in addition to the administrative functions related to the village. The main sources of income of the Panchayats were land cess, profession tax, license fees, vehicle tax and contributions from the Government. Later, the Travancore Village Pancfiayai Act of 1935 empowered the government to declare any revenue village or group of villages to be a panchayat with an elected or nominated committee to perform the essential civic duties. These civic duties entrusted to Panchayats were sanitation, maintenance of roads, and provision of drinking water, as obligatory duties, while the promotion of primary education, agriculture, cattle rearing, and cottage industries as discretionary functions. In 1940. the Travancore Village Union Act was passed, giving rise to a new type of rural local governments slightly less powerful than the village panchayats. The Unions were vested with the judicial functions exercised by the Panchayats. Two categories of Panchayats were operating in the Travancore region at the time of integration – One category under the Village Panchayat Act of 1925 and the other under the Village Union Act of 1940.

In Cochin Region

Urban local governance

In the state of Cochin, the urban local governments emerged well during the closing decades of the nineteenth century, essentially to look after sanitary arrangements. In 1910, Municipal and Sanitary Improvement Regulations were passed under which a number of town councils were set up with representation for elected members. The government nominated the presidents. After a decade, the magnitude of elected representation and powers of the councils were enhanced substantially though franchise was confined to taxpayers. Significantly, gender discrimination was also removed by allowing women to vote and be elected.

Rural local governance

The earliest legislation for local governance in the rural areas was the Cochin Village Panchayai Regulation of 1914.,based on which nominated panchayat Committees were constituted on an experimental basis in selected villages. In 1922, the process of election was introduced for the rural local governments. By 1934 Panchayats were formed in the entire rural areas of Cochin State increasing the number from 5 to 87. Panchayats in Cochin State were not levying taxes of any kind and their income was confined to receipts from usufructs, trees etc. which was not of much significance. However, the Panchayats carried out their civic duties by means of liberal grants from the Government. The Panchayats did not have any machinery to execute works and the staff for the execution of several works in the Panchayat area were directly engaged and paid by Government.

In Integrated Travancore-Cochin area

Even though Travancore and Cochin were integrated in July 1949 the pattern of Panchayats that existed in the erstwhile states continued to function under the relevant Act of each State till 15 August 1951, when a unified Act, "Travancore-Cochin Village Panchayat Act, 1950" came into force. The first Panchayat elections to village Panchayats in the T-C State were held in 1953 and these Panchayats started functioning from 15 August 1953. At the time of integration of Travancore and Cochin States in 1949, there were 197 village unions and 7 panchayats in the former and 100 panchayats in the latter. The legislations prevailing in both Travancore and Cochin till then were superseded when Travancore- Cochin Panchayat Act was enacted in 1950. In accordance with the act, elections were held in 1953 and these Panchayats started functioning from 15 August 1953. At the time of formation of Kerala State, there were 495 reconstituted panrhuyats in Travancore-Cochin area and 399 panrhayats in the Malabar area. Even after the formation of Kerala, the local bodies in the two regions continued to function under widely different legislations – two-tier arrangement in Malabar and single-tier arrangement in Travancore-Cochin.

Since formation of Kerala State

In 1957, the Communist Party came into power in Kerala. in the first election. Immediately after assuming power, an Administrative Reforms Committee (ARC) headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad. the first Chief Minister, was set up with the terms of reference which included suggesting "measures for decentralisation of powers at various levels (and)... methods for democratisation of the organs of government at various levels with a view to effective participation of local self-governing institutions... in the administration". The system of governance of panchayats recommended by the ARC was essentially a two-tier system with both directly elected village panchayats at village level and district councils at the district level. The Committee envisaged constitution of village panchayat as viable and basic grassroots-level unit of administration and local development. The Committee emphasised the need to integrate the revenue and development functions. Local governments were not viewed as agents of development but as self-governing units. Village panchayats were expected to collect land revenue to be remitted by them to state government. The revenue Taluks and development blocks were to be made coterminous. A middle tier was envisaged as a weak indirectly elected council with advisory functions. The ARC wanted to have a district council with wide executive functions in the form of a district government. The gradual building up of a district council into a district government was conceived to happen in a phased manner. In the first phase, the district councils would act merely as agents of the governments with a co-ordinating role. In the second phase, they would assume full control and responsibility over the social sectors. In the third-stage, "they will assume full authority over development work in the district except the very important schemes which may be specifically retained in Government's direct control and function as full-fledged local sell"-governing units in the area".

Legislation in 1960

The conceptualisation in the ARC laid the basis of the Kerala Panchavat Bill and Kerala District Council Bill of 1958. The latter accepted the perspective of a strong district level self-governing body that had to be developed in a phased manner, as was recommended by ARC. However, the bills were not enacted, as the legislative assembly was dissolved consequent upon a violent anti-communist 'liberation struggle'. This lapse however exerted a decisive influence on the future of local governance in Kerala.

The new government that came to power through the mid-term election, largely ignored most of the recommendations of ARC, while passing the Kerala Panchayat Act. 1960 and Kerala Municipal Corporation Act. 1961 which existed for a long period of 14 years. Though the above Acts fell short of the vision of ARC. the functions and financial resources of the local bodies were significantly enhanced. The declared objective was to ensure that no government activity would take place in any locality without the panchayai being involved either in an advisory capacity or as direct executing agent. The village office was expected to be merged with the panchayat. All the government staff working at panchayat level in education, public health, agriculture, animal husbandry, and cottage industries were to work under the control and supervision of ti\e panchayats. The list of duties and functions enumerated in the Act was long and impressive, starting from revenue functions such as maintenance of survey and village records, and collection of revenue and village statistics to a wide variety of development functions touching many sectors.

The reality turned out to be much different. The local bodies could discharge only the traditional civic functions defined by the Act as the mandatory functions. The Act, stipulated that the government would authorise the panchuyats to exercise any of the numerous optional development duties that were listed; but no government ever entrusted any of those powers down to panchayats. The absence of an intermediate tier between the State Government and the grassroots-level local bodies at the district or block was a major lacunae.

In 1964 another attempt was made by the Congress ministry to pass a new legislation on the model recommended by Balwant Rai Mehta Committee. In that report the elected Panchayat Union Councils with vital planning and development functions at the block level were proposed to be established. But the Zilla Pamhayat at the district level was envisaged as an advisory board, with the collector as the chairperson, and officials and the presidents of Panchayat Union Councils as the members. Due to the falling of the ministry, the bill could be enacted. The Lef government that came to power in 1967 after a two years tenure of president's rule, introduced a Kerala Panchayat Raj Bill in the lines of the 1957 Bill. A two-tier structure with Panchayats as the basic unit and zilla parixhad at the district level was proposed. The zilla parishad was then visualised as an executive agency. The recommendations of the legislative select committee further strengthened the district-tier by renaming it as District Council. The district council was not a mere development agency, it should govern the district. The government might delegate to the district council duties such as collection of taxes, registration, inspection of factories, labour welfare, and even police administration This bill also lapsed with the fall of the Leftist ministry and dissolution of the Assembly. The contents of the bill was later reintroduced. with certain changes, as the Kerala District Administration Bill. 1971. This Bill also lapsed.

Kerala District Administration Act

The Kerala District Administration Bill was once again introduced in 1978 after removing reference to police functions and restricting the district administration to revenue functions. It was passed in 1979. The new Left Front Government that came to power in 1980 issued a number of notifications and rules as a prelude to implementation of the Act. But that government also fell. The new Congress government that took charge in 1982 wanted the Act to be modified before implementation. A committee for proposing the necessary revisions was set up. But nothing else happened till 1987 when the political pendulum again swung to briong the left to the power.

The new government appointed a Special Advisor to advise on measures to be undertaken for democratic decentralisation at district and lower levels. The report submitted by him in July 1988, was a comprehensive review of the provisions of the 1979 Act and a set of suggestions for rectifying the anomalies in the Act, complementary legislation and also the administrative changes that were to be undertaken urgently. Even though many of the recommendations remain unimplemented, they formed the basis of the 1991 -'92 experiment in District Councils.

Many defects remained in the District Administration Act 1979, even after a long legislative scrutiny. This calls for a re-look at the poor legislative process in the State. Leaving aside certain obvious errors, corrections made by an amendment did not raise any serious conceptual problem. There were a few anomalies in the listing of powers and functions of District Councils numbering 152 items under 19 different heads.

To cite certain example the housing is suitable for decentralisation, the only role given to District Councils in housing, was identification of 'houseless families". In education, the powers provided was "opening and establishment of new schools", which if not judiciously exercised might met with serious consequences in the context of Kerala. Omission of planning from the purview of the district councils was another major defect. This was surprising, even though planning was considered a subject for local level participation on almost every occasion, from drafting till discussion stage.

The parastatals such as Kerala Water Authority, Command Area Development Agencies, and Khadi and Village industries were left untouched. Existence of such boards and authorities on subjects that could eminently be operated at the local level became an important factor that dis-empower the local bodies in the development process in India at large. Kerala is no exception to this. The worst offender in this case was Kerala Water Authority Act. which acquired a monopoly in the supply of piped water and compulsory transfer of even water supply systems that were run efficiently by the municipalities to the newly constituted authority.

The list of powers and functions was left untouched (in fact, planning was added to the list). But the magnitude of these powers was retained by reserving government's arbitrary right to interfere and lay down conditionalities. The populist stance adopted might have been politically expedient but it gave large scope for an unsympathetic administration, legal means to arbitrarily throttle the local bodies. On 29 January 1991, the first-ever election to the District Councils was held. The ruling Left Front was swept to power in all but one of the District Councils.

The State Government, assumed office later, was not tolerable to the District Councils led by the left parties and had restricted the powers of them with unquestionable legal perfection. They passed an amendment in the assembly authorising the government with the right to amend the list of powers through government notifications. The legislation had provision to de-link the office of district collector from the position of ex-officio secretary of the council. Most of the district offices and institutions of the agricultural and allied development departments were taken back. Paucity of resources and absence of technical staff -the total staff of the district councils were only around a dozen-, the district councils were allowed to remain ineffective for some time. The district councils were formally disbanded by the amendment of the Kerala Panahayat Raj Act in 1994.

73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments

In 1994, Government of India enacted Constitutional amendments to bring uniform system of local governments in the constituent states of India with a uniform three tier system in rural areas and one tier system in urban areas. Kerala enacted concomitant legislations in 1994, in pursuance of the Constitutional amendment.

Landmark events Since 1994

References

• Status of Panchayti Raj in the States and Union Territories of India 2000. New Delhi, Concept 2000. P147 -164
• Government of Kerala (1958), Report of the Administrative Reforms Committee, ( Chairman E M S Namboothirippad) 2 Vol, Thiruvananthapuram, Government Press.
• Santha E K ( 1993), Local-self government in Malabar 1800–1960. New Delhi, Institute of Social Sciences.
• Ramachandran V ( 1988), Report on the measures to be taken for Democratic Decentralisation at the District and Lower Levels 2 Vols, Thiruvananthapuram, Government press.

External links

• From decentralization of plan to people’s planning : Experiences of the Indian states of West Bengal and Kerala by Charvak. P 15 – 21
• Decentralisation of the healthcare sector in Kerala : Some issues by D Narayana and K K Hari Kurup. P 7 – 10
• Website on Decentralisation and Local governace in Kerala

See also

Panchayati Raj

History of panchayatiraj in India