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"243-W. Powers, authority and responsbilities of Municipalities, etc.-- Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Legislature of a State may, by law, endow.-
(a) the Municipalities with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-

wpc 24526/2009 & government and such law may contain provisions for the devolution of powers and responsibilities upon Municipalities, subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, with respect to.-

(n). In fact, under Section 23 of the Act, every Municipality will have a steering committee consisting of the Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and wpc 24526/2009 & Chairmen of Standing Committees and Chairperson shall be the Chairman of the said Committee. It will have to co-ordinate and monitor the functioning of the Standing Committees and it can discharge the powers and functions entrusted to it by the Council also. Going by Section 30, the administration of a municipal area is vested in a Municipality in respect of the matters enumerated in the First Schedule, "subject to the provisions of this Act" and such other provisions as may be prescribed in this behalf and the provisions of other acts and rules made thereunder. Sub-section (2) therein stats that "Municipality shall have such powers, authority and responsibilities of the Government as prescribed to enable it to function as an institution of self government in respect of the matters entrusted to it." Thus, they have to exercise Government's powers, functions and responsibilities as prescribed. This is in conformity with Article 243-W(a) of the Constitution which envisages bringing a law containing provisions for devolution of powers and responsibilities on Municipalities. This is quite important. By sub-section (3) the Government is obliged to "transfer all institutions, schemes, buildings, other properties, assets and liabilities connected with the matters mentioned in the First Schedule, to the Municipalities concerned." The constitution of ward committees and ward wpc 24526/2009 & sabhas are included in Sections 42 and 42A and their functions are clearly stipulated in Section 45. In fact, various powers and functions have been delineated in Section 45for Ward Committees and Ward Sabhas and Section 45(1)(p) is important for the purpose of town planning which provides for "identification of the lacunae and lapses in following the building rules and in implementing spatial planning." Section 46 is concerned with the duties and rights of Ward Committees and Ward Sabhas. Sub-section (2) deals with the rights of Ward Committees and Ward Sabhas and clause (v) of sub-section (2) therein is important which reads as follows:

47. Herein, one thing to be noticed is that under the Town Planning Act, the objections will have to be placed before the Municipal Council, whereas under Part IX-A of the Constitution, the ward committees, ward sabhas, district development committees and Committee for Metropolitan Planning, etc. have been envisaged. This is so in respect of Municipalities Act, 1994 also. We have already seen that the Town Panchayat, Municipality and Municipal Council will have to provide separate Standing Committees which will have to deal with the concept of town planning. There is a steering committee and the plans prepared and adopted by the Municipality will have to be forwarded to the District Development Planning Committee. Therefore, the concepts under the Town Planning Act, 1939 and under the Municipality Act, 1994 with regard to the preparation of plans are different. The devolution of powers to various bodies is evident from the scheme of the Act 1994 also. Therefore, after having brought out the general scheme under Part IX-A of the Constitution into effect by bringing a new law on Municipalities in 1994, it cannot be wpc 24526/2009 & said that there is no real conflict with provisions under the Town Planning Act and the Municipalities Act. In fact, Section 51(3) enjoins a duty on every municipality to prepare a master plan for its development in the prescribed manner with focus on scientific spatial planning. When we come to Section 51(4) of the Act, it can be seen that the Municipality shall have the power to prepare and implement detailed town planning schemes under the Town Planning Act subject to the master plans approved by the Government. This provision really goes against the other provisions of the Municipality Act, 1994, since the power of the Municipality is confined to the implementation of the schemes under the Town Planning Act. It is in that context the contents of Ext.P26 produced in W.P.(C) No.24526/2009 and Ext.P13 produced in W.P.(C) No.22857/2010 comes into the central stage. Apart from that, in Ext.P23, the Central Government has also advised to constitute a Metropolitan Planning Committee in the light of the Seventy Fourth Constitution Amendment Act. Therefore, the idea to have such a streamlined spatial planning under the new provisions of the Constitution has struck the Central Government as well as the State Government. But what is lacking is a proper enactment, in the place of the Town Planning Acts which are pre-constitutional enactments. wpc 24526/2009 &

"9. Article 243-W whereupon great emphasis has been laid by the petitioners herein provides for an enabling clause so as to enable the State to endow by law the municipality with such powers and authority, as may be necessary, to enable the State to make, by law, by endowing the municipalities to function as institutions of self- government which may contain provisions for the devolution of powers and responsibilities subject to the conditions which may be specified in the Twelfth Schedule. The Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution referable to Article 243-W, inter alia, provides for urban planning including town planning, regulation of land-use and construction of buildings. Thus, Article 243-W contains merely an wpc 24526/2009 & enabling provision, and it does not mean that the State is obliged to provide for such a statute. The Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment Act, in any event, does not envisage that the existing laws would become non-operative or a vacuum would be created in the matter of enforcement of existing laws relating to urban planning and/or regulation of land-use and construction of buildings, etc.