The Haryana Municipal Citizens Participation Act, 2008 (35 of 2008)

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THE  HARYANA  MUNICIPAL  CITIZENS'  PARTICIPATION
ACT, 2008
(Haryana Act No. 35 of 2008)
Table of contents
SECTIONS:
1. Short title and extent.
2. Definitions.
3. Determination of area.
4. Area sabha representative.
5. General body meeting.
6. Nomination of area sabha representative.
7. Term of office.
8. Functions and duties of area sabha.
9. Rights and powers of area sabha.
10. Area sabha representative to be ex-officio member of ward
committee.
11. Ward committee.
12. Functions of ward committee.
13. Rights of ward committee.
14. Activities of ward committee.
15. Budget of ward committee.
16. Budget of municipality.
17. Responsibility of municipality.
18. Ward information and statistics committe.
19. Power to make rules.
Schedule - Annual Budget Calender
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MUNICIPAL  CITIZENS'  PARTICIPATION
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1THE  HARYANA  MUNICIPAL  CITIZENS'  PARTICIPATION
ACT, 2008
(Haryana  Act  No. 35 of  2008)
[Received the assent of the Governor of Haryana on
the 25th September, 2008, and first published for general information in
the Haryana Government Gazette (Extraordinary), Legislative
Supplement Part I of the 10th October, 2008.]
  1  2        3 4
Year No. Short Title Whether repealed or otherwise
affected by legislation
2008 35 The Haryana Amended by Haryana Act
Municipal Citizens' No. 27 of 2018. 2
Participation /g36/g70/g87/g15/g3/g21/g19/g19/g27
AN
ACT
relating to the municipalities in the State of Haryana to
institutionalize citizens’ participation in municipal functions, by
setting up of  area sabha and to provide for matters connected there-
with or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Haryana in the
Fifty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1. (1)  This Act may be called the Haryana Municipal Citizens’
Participation Act, 2008.
(2)  It extends to all the municipalities in the State of Haryana.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a)   “area” means an area as determined under section 3;
(b)  “area sabha” means in relation to an area, the body of all the
persons registered in the electoral rolls pertaining to every
polling booth in that area of the municipality;
(c)  “budget year” means the period for which the Government
lays down the annual financial statement;
(d)  “chairperson” means the chairperson of the ward committee
who shall be the councilor of each ward;
1. For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see Haryana Government Gazette (Extra.), dated
the 1st September, 2008, Page 4015.
2. For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see Haryana Government Gazette (Extra.), dated
the 9th September, 2018, Page 2852.
Short title and
extent.
Definitions.
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(e) “Government” means the Government of the State of
Haryana;
(f)  “member” means the area sabha representative of the ward
committee nominated under this Act;
(g) “municipality” means an institution of self-government
constituted under the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973 (Haryana
Act No. 24 of 1973);
(h)  “prescribed” means  prescribed by rules made under this
Act;
(i) “Schedule” means Schedule appended to this Act;
(j) “ward committee” means a committee constituted under
section 11;
(k) “ward infrastructure index” means a composite index
generated by taking into account the condition of all public
infrastructure elements in that ward.
3. The territorial extent of area of each area sabha shall be
coterminous with the geographical area of the ward of the municipality.
However, in a municipality, where population of a ward is more than ten
thousand, the ward shall be sub-divided into a number of areas with a
population of ten thousand or a part thereof (less than 50% being ignored
and more than 50% of the same being counted as one unit).
4. The area sabha representative nominated in the manner as
provided under section 6 of this Act, shall be a member of the ward
committee.
5. The general body meeting of an area sabha shall be held in the
area, at a public place, at least twice a year, one during the period
commencing from the 15th day of May and ending with the 15th day of
June and the other during the period commencing from the 15th day of
November and ending with the 15th day of December. At least ten percent
of the registered voters of the area shall be present in such meetings.
6. Within a period of eight weeks from the date of announcement
of constitution of the municipality, representatives for each area sabha
shall be nominated in such manner, as may be prescribed.
7. An area sabha representative shall ordinarily hold office for a
duration that is coterminous with that of the municipality concerned :
Provided that no person shall continue to hold office as an area
sabha representative, if, at any time, during his tenure, he incurs any of
Determination
of area.
Area sabha
representative.
General body
meeting.
Nomination of
area sabha
representative.
Term of office.
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the disqualifications specified by or under any law for the time being in
force for the purpose of elections to the municipality concerned:
Provided further that no person shall be entitled or continue to
be entitled to hold office as area sabha representative of an area in which
he is not an ordinarily resident.
8. An area sabha may, having regard to its managerial, technical,
financial and organizational capacity and the actual conditions prevailing
in the municipal area, perform and discharge the following functions and
duties, namely:—
(a)  to generate proposals and determine the priority of schemes
and development programmes to be implemented in the area
and forward the same to the ward committee, or in its absence,
the municipality, for inclusion in the development plans of
the ward committee or municipality, as the case may be;
(b) to verify the most eligible persons from the area for
beneficiary oriented schemes on the basis of criteria fixed
by the Government  and prepare a list of eligible
beneficiaries in order of priority and forward the same for
inclusion in the development plans of the ward or
municipality;
(c) to suggest the location of streetlights, streets, community
water taps, public wells, public sanitation units and such
other civic amenity schemes within the area;
(d) to identify the deficiencies in the civic amenities in the area
and suggest remedial measures;
(e) to assist the activities of public health centres in the area,
especially in disease prevention and family welfare and create
arrangements to report on the incidence of epidemics and
natural calamities;
(f) to provide and mobilize voluntary labour and contributions
in cash and kind for development programmes and to
supervise such development works through volunteer teams;
(g) to undertake and support tax mapping and to remind people
of the locality of their obligations to pay municipal taxes
and user charges.
Functions and
duties of area
sabha.
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9. An area sabha may, subject to the procedures that may be
prescribed in this regard, exercise the following rights and powers,
namely:—
(i) to get information from the officials concerned as to the
services to be rendered  and  the works proposed to be done
in the succeeding period of three months  after the meeting;
(ii) to be informed by the ward committee about every decision
concerning the area  and the rationale of such decisions made
by the ward committee or the Government;
(iii) to be informed by the ward committee of the follow up action
taken on the decisions concerning the area;
(iv) to impart awareness on matters of public interest such as
cleanliness, preservation of environment and prevention of
pollution;
(v) to promote harmony and unity and arrange cultural festivals
and sports meets to give expression to the talents of the people
of the locality; and
(vi) to co-oper ate with the ward committee in the provisions of
sanitation arrangements in the area.
10.  The area sabha representative of an area shall be an ex-officio
member of the ward committee constituted for the ward within which area
is situated.
11.  (1)  There shall be a ward committee for each ward in a
municipality to be constituted within six months of the constitution of the
municipality.
(2)   Each ward committee shall consist of –
(a) the member of the municipality representing the ward, who
shall be the chairperson of  the ward committee;
(b) not less than three and not more than ten persons representing
the civic society as area sabha representatives, from the ward,
to be nominated by the municipality :
Provided that if the population of the ward is not more
than ten thousand, the number of nominated members shall
be four, and thereafter, there shall be one additional member
for every four thousand population or part thereof:
Provided further that in reckoning the number of
additional members of the ward committee exceeding four,
any part of less than two thousand population may be
ignored:
Rights and
powers of area
sabha.
Area sabha
representative to
be ex-officio
member of Ward
committee.
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Ward
Committee.
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       Provided further that at least one-third of the members
shall be women and the number of members representing
Scheduled Caste and Backward Class shall be in proportion
to their population in that ward;
1[Provided further that when any local/gram panchayat
is merged into a municipality, the incumbents of the offices
of Panches and Sarpanches at the time of merger shall act as
the ward committee for the geographical area so merged till
such time as the next elections to that municipality are held
or till the term of the erstwhile gram panchayat would have
lasted, whichever is earlier.]
Explanation.—  For the purposes of this section, ‘civic society’ means
any non-government organization or association of persons established,
constituted or registered under any law for the time being in force and
working for social welfare and includes any community-based organization,
professional institution and civic, health, educational, social or cultural
body or any trade or industrial organization and such other association or
body as the municipality may decide.
(3) A person shall be disqualified for being nominated as a
member of the ward committee under clause (b) of sub-section (2) or to
continue as such member, if under the provisions of any law for the time
being in force, he is disqualified for being elected as a member of a
municipality.
(4)  The Commissioner, Executive Officer or Secretary of the
municipality, as the case may be,  or his representative shall be entitled to
take part in the meetings and deliberations of the ward committee. The
chairperson of the ward committee may request the representatives of
concerned departments to be  special invitees to participate in the meetings
whenever problems pertaining to  their departments are to be discussed.
(5) The Sanitary Inspector or any other official, as may be
nominated by the municipality, shall be the Secretary of the ward committee.
All minutes of the proceedings of the meeting of the ward committee shall
be recorded by the Secretary and a  copy of minutes of the proceedings of
each meeting shall be forwarded by him to the municipality.
(6) The meeting of the ward committee shall be held at least
once in each quarter of the year and at least two-third members shall be
present in each meeting.
(7) The following procedure shall be adhered to  while
conducting meetings of the ward committee:—
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MUNICIPAL  CITIZENS'  PARTICIPATION
1. Inserted by Haryana Act 27 of 2018.
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(a) reasonable notice of meeting shall be given at least one
week in advance and placed on the notice board of the
offices of the ward committee;
(b)minutes of the meeting shall be maintained and kept at its
office and shall be made available to the general public
for perusal;
(c) the action taken report on the minutes shall be presented
at the next meeting and this information shall be made
use of by the appropriate sub-committees in their functions.
(8) The term of office of the ward committee shall be coterminous
with the term of office of the municipality.
12. The ward committee shall discharge the following functions,
namely:—
(a) to provide assistance in solid waste management and conduct
supervision of sanitation work in the ward;
(b) to provide assistance for the preparation, implementation
and monitoring of the development scheme for the ward
and encourage local level alternatives, initiatives or public-
private partnership for its implementation;
(c) to encourage harmony and unity among various groups of
people in the ward;
(d) to mobilize voluntary labour and donation by way of goods
or money for social welfare programs and ensure people’s
participation in the voluntary activities necessary for
successful implementation of the developmental activities
of the municipality;
(e) to provide assistance for identification of beneficiaries for
the implementation of development and welfare schemes;
(f) to encourage art and cultural activities and sports and games;
(g) to assist in the timely collection of taxes, fees and other sums
due to the municipality and ensure optimal collection of all
revenue sources;
(h) to ensure maintenance of parks, play grounds, streets  and
street lights;
(i) to assist the activities of public health centres in the area,
especially in disease prevention and family welfare and create
arrangements to report on the incidence of epidemics and
natural calamities;
Functions of
ward
committee.
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(j) to assist in preparation of the ward plans in a manner
consistent with the district plans and complete the exercise
within the time specified by the Government;
(k) to assist in preparation of the ward budget in accordance
with the ward plans and complete the exercise within the
time specified by the Government;
(l) to map the ward infrastructure index for that ward;
(m)   to make periodical reports to the municipality in respect of
the administration of  the Act;
(n) to perform such other functions as may be assigned to it by
the municipality.
13. The ward committee shall have the right to –
(a) obtain information about the district and municipal plans;
(b)  obtain the municipal budget  within reasonable time to
verify, seek clarifications and suggest changes that need to
be incorporated;
(c) obtain information about provision of basic services to urban
poor including security of tenure at affordable prices,
improved housing, water supply, sanitation, education, health
and social security;
(d) be consulted in the development of land and change of land
use and zoning regulations;
(e) obtain details on all revenue matters including taxes and
budgetary allocations to  be presented in a simplified and
manageable manner;
(f) seek information from the Commissioner, Executive Officer
or Secretary of the municipality, as the case may be,
regarding any matter relating to the ward.
14. The ward committee shall perform the following activities,
namely:—
(a)  it shall decide upon agenda at its first meeting for each budget
year and  for each of the monthly meetings:
    Provided that the chairperson may add additional agenda
for any meeting or any other member may, at a meeting,
move a resolution to add to the agenda, to be  decided upon
in the meeting in question or any subsequent meeting;
Rights of
ward
committee.
Activities of
ward
committee.
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(b) it shall prepare the annual ward plan and forward the same
to the concerned municipality for its integration with the
annual municipal plan.
15. (1) A ward committee meeting shall compulsorily be held at
least three weeks before the preparation of the ward budget to facilitate its
proper preparation.
(2) A ward level annual budget calendar shall be prepared strictly
in accordance with the Schedule six weeks before the municipal budget.
The municipality may suggest changes that may be effected into the ward
level budget after discussion with the ward committee.
16. The municipality budget shall be the aggregate of all the ward
budgets which have been prepared in accordance with section 15 and
shall have additional account heads for specific receipts and expenditures
at its level.
17. The municipality shall take up the responsibility of providing
administrative and infrastructure support to the ward committee for its
proper functioning and  shall create mechanisms for checks and balances
over the Government personnel in their ward and  shall have the power to
recommend to the competent authority for imposition of penalties for
misconduct and negligence of duties.
18. (1) There shall be a ward information and statistics committee
consisting of three members, to be nominated by the chairperson within
one month of the constitution of the ward committee in each ward, for
various developmental and planning works. It shall also appoint from
amongst themselves, one person as the presiding member, who shall preside
over the meetings.
(2)   It shall be the duty of the ward information and statistics
committee to compile, maintain and update annually the following
information about the ward, in such format, as may be specified by the
concerned municipality for this purpose, namely:—
(a)   economic information including the number and nature of
commercial establishments in the ward and employment data
in these establishments;
(b) information relating to land use including the changes in
patterns of land use, data relating to public spaces and civic
amenity sites, traffic patterns and public transportation hubs
and preservation and restoration of environment, natural
resources and heritage sites;
Budget of
ward
committee.
Budget of
municipality.
Responsibility
of
municipality.
Ward
information
and statistics
committee.
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(c) infrastructure index including the extent of infrastructural
development, current and pending projects and the
infrastructural requirements of the ward.
19. (1)   The State Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) Every rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may
be, after it is made, before the House of State Legislature, while it is in
session.
ANNUAL   BUDGET   CALENDAR
[Sections 2 (i) and  15 (2)]
   Month PrimaryActivity SecondaryActivity
          1           2              3
APRIL area plan
MAY ward plan
JUNE ward plan
JULY area budget
AUGUST area budget
SEPTEMBER ward budget
OCTOBER ward budget
NOVEMBER municipality’s budget
DECEMBER municipality’s budget
JANUARY works review
FEBRUARY works review
MARCH works review
——————
Power to make
rules.
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