The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 aimed to usher in decentralization and empower urban local bodies in India. Prior to this, decentralization efforts had failed due to the structure of the Indian Constitution and state governments' unwillingness to devolve powers and finances to local governments. The 74th CAA mandated the establishment of unified, three-tier structures for urban local bodies based on population. It also introduced provisions for representation of women and marginalized groups and the constitution of ward committees. However, the act failed to achieve full decentralization as it did not mandate financial devolution or functional autonomy for urban local bodies, leaving states in control. As a result, political decentralization was not matched with true empowerment for local governments

1. Implementation of the
74th CAA 1992

2. THE 74TH CAA 1992-
INTRODUCTION
●Hailed as Ushering Dawn of Decentralisation
or new era of local decentralisation
●Has roots in recommendations of earlier
several committees especially National
Commission on Urbanisation (1986)
●Earlier CAA 67 & 68 were introduced in 1988-
89 but got lost
●Finally in 1992 parliament adopted them
●Came in to effect from April 1993

3. SITUATION PRIOR TO THE 74TH
CAA
●Various decentralisation initiatives to make ULBs
and PRIs institutions of self governance were
taken but failed
●Two main reasons for their failure
●Structure of Indian Constitution – three lists
●State governments’ refusal to part with functions,
powers, and finances to ULBs & PRIs
●Prior to CAA most local government institutions
were either routinely superseded or elections
were not held timely, resulting in complete
subversion of the system of local governance.

4. THE 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT ACT
●Visualised ULBs as Institutions of Self-governance
with the capability to prepare 'plans for economic
development and social justice'.
●Introduced unified three tier structure based on
population, function and economic base
●Put an end to State Government’s discretion to
constitute or not to constitute ULB
●Representation to women, SC/ST/OBC groups
●Introduced 12th Schedule regarding functions which
may be transferred to ULBs

5. THE 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT ACT
●Democratic Decentralisation: constitution of Ward
Committees with representation from women,
citizens' groups, SC/ STs etc. in cities with a
population of over 0.3 million. For lower level of
ULBs, the State Government can decide. To bring
governance closer to the people and could be
empowered to carry out the responsibilities of the
ULB including the XII Schedule
●District and Metropolitan Planning Committees:
To effect spatial and economic development, and
rural and urban planning, with majority
representation of elected local representatives.

6. THE 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT ACT
●State Finance Commission: To ensure financial stability
of ULBs, a State Finance Commission (SFCs) to be
constituted every five years. Based upon the
recommendations of SFC, the Central Finance
Commission to suggest measures for augmenting the
consolidated funds in a state, for supplementing the
resources of municipalities
●State Election Commission: To ensure a democratic
process, the act mandates the creation of State Election
Commissions (SECs). Another key task of the SECs is to
ensure that election to municipalities dissolved by the
state government, be held within 6 months of the
dissolution.

7. THE 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT ACT
CRITICAL ISSUES
●In nut shell what has happened is a political
decentralisation
●More than 60000 elected representatives
assumed role in 15 states but no provision for their
training
●Political decentralisation is not backed by financial
devolution and functional autonomy
●The 12th Schedule pertaining to functions is not
mandated
●State’s absolute power to determine functional and
fiscal domain of ULBs remained as it is

8. THE 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT ACT
- CRITICAL ISSUES
●No criteria for seat reservation possibility of political
victimisation
●States have not created ward committees
●Those who have created has not given financial
powers to these committees or has clubbed several
wards to form a single committee
●Rotation and short term of Mayor and other
functionaries
●Delay in SFC constitution and non implementation
of their recommendation
●Very few States have provided for DPC and MPC

9. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 74TH
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ACT -
SUMMARY
●Has only ensured existence of ULBs
●Political Decentralisation but without
empowerment
●Only silver lining is there is no reversal of a
democratic situation

10. Implementation of the
74th CAA 1992
Thank You