Insertion of new Chapter IIIA

After Chapter III of the Principal Act, the following new Chapter IIIA shall be inserted, namely:- "CHAPTER IIIA. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION. 12A. A Municipal Corporation shall be a body corporate by its name, having a perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property and to contract and shall sue and be sued in its name: 12B. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Municipal administration of a Municipal Corporation shall vest in the Municipal Corporation. (1) Every Municipal Corporation shall consist of such number of Councillors as may be fixed by the State Government from time to time by notification. (2) Save as provided in sub-section (3), all the Councillors shall be chosen by direct election in the municipal area. (3) The State Government may appoint a person having special knowledge or experience in municipal administration for representation in the Municipal Corporation. Provided such person shall not have the right to vote in the meetings of the Municipal Corporation. 12D. For every Municipal Corporation, there shall be a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson who shall be known respectively as Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Corporation. 12E. (1) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the Councillors at the first meeting of the Municipal Corporation to be called at the instance of the Deputy Commissioner after a general election shall elect one of them to be the Mayor in accordance with rules made in this behalf. (2) The election shall take place within thirty days from the date of notification of the result under section 22; and in the case of a vacancy in the office of the Mayor on account of any reason other than expiry of the term of office of the Mayor, within thirty days from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy. (3) The State Government shall appoint a person to preside over the meeting convened for the purpose of the business mentioned in sub-section (1). 12F. The Councillors shall elect a Deputy Mayor either in the meeting referred to in sub-section (1) of section 12E, or in a subsequent meeting but within thirty days from the date of the first meeting in sub-section (1) of section 12E. 12G. When a Councillor who holds the office of Mayor or the Deputy Mayor ceases, for any reason whatsoever, to be a Councillor shall, at the same time, cease to hold the office of the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor, as the case may be. 12H. (1) Mayor may resign his office by writing a letter of resignation to the Deputy Mayor who shall deliver it within seven days from the date of its receipt to the Municipal Commissioner or to the Municipal Commissioner if the office of the Deputy Mayor is vacant. (2) The Deputy Mayor or a Councillor may resign his office by writing a letter of resignation addressed to the Mayor, who shall deliver it within seven days from the date of its receipt to the Municipal Commissioner or to the Municipal Commissioner if the office of the Mayor is vacant. (3) The resignation under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall take effect from the date on which it is accepted by the State Government. (4) The Municipal Commissioner shall forthwith intimate the fact of resignation received under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) to the Municipal Corporation and the State Government. (5) On receipt of the intimation under sub-section (4), the State Government shall notify in the Official Gazette the fact of the resignation and occurrence of casual vacancy consequent thereon. 12-I. No Councillor of a Municipal Corporation who has been removed from his office under sub-section (1) or under clause (b), (c), (d) or (e) of sub-section (2) of section 29 shall be eligible for election or re-election as a Councillor for such period as may be prescribed. 12J. (1) The State Government may remove by a notification in the Official Gazette, from office, the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor, in pursuance of a resolution passed by a majority of the total number of the Councillors and supported by not less than two-third of the Councillors present and voting at a meeting specially convened for the purpose under sub-section (2). (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, where the Mayor or a Councillor submits to the Deputy Commissioner a requisition for convening a meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence against the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor or both, as the case may be, the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor or the Councillor as the case may be, shall preside over such meeting and in such eventuality, the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district shall preside over such meeting. (3) The removal of the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor under sub-section (1) shall be from the date of passing of the resolution. (4) No motion of no confidence against the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor or both, as the case may be, shall be brought before the Municipal Corporation within a period of one year from the date of such defeat of the motion. 12K. (1) The State Government may, from time to time, grant such leave of absence to the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor as it may deem fit. (2) If the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor is absent owing to illness or for any reason for a period exceeding three months without the leave of the Municipal Corporation, he shall cease to be Mayor or the Deputy Mayor, as the case may be, and his office shall become vacant. (4) The Deputy Mayor or the Councillor shall, during and in respect of the period in which he is acting as, or discharging the function of Mayor or the Deputy Mayor, as the case may be, exercise the powers conferred and perform the duties imposed on a Mayor or a Deputy Mayor by or under this Act or by any other law for the time being in force. 12L. It shall be the function of the Mayor (a) to preside, unless prevented by reasonable cause, over all meetings of Municipal Corporation and subject to the provisions of the bye-laws for the time being in force, to regulate the conduct of business at such meeting; (b) to watch over the financial and executive administration of the Municipal Corporation and perform such executive function as may be allotted to him by or under this Act and rules or bye laws framed thereunder; (c) to exercise supervisory and executive control over acts and proceedings of all officers and servants of the Municipal Corporation, as regards to executive functions and operation of the Municipal Corporation; (d) to direct, in case of emergency or immediate necessity, the execution or stoppage of any work or doing of any act which requires the sanction of the Municipal Corporation and the immediate execution or doing of which is, in his opinion, for the service or safety of the public and the expenses incurred in the execution of such work or doing of such act shall be paid from Municipal Fund. 12M. (1) The Mayor shall, in order to show the Municipal Corporation the execution of any particular work or the doing of any act, shall report forthwith and the reasons of such work or act at its next meeting. (2) It shall be the function of the Deputy Mayor, unless prevented by reasonable cause, to preside over meetings of the Municipal Corporation and he shall, when so presiding, exercise the same power as is vested in the Mayor under this Act. 12N. The Municipal Corporation may pay to the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor from the Municipal Fund such remuneration and allowance as may be prescribed: Provided that this section shall without prejudice to the other provision be paid out of the Municipal Fund. 12P. (1) There shall be no age limit, as may be prescribed, for the election of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillors in a Municipal Corporation. (2) The provision relating to Nagar Panchayat or the Municipal Council, as the case may be, shall apply mutatis mutandis in the case of the Municipal Corporation."