Chapter VII MUNICIPAL PROPERTY, FINANCE AND CONTRACTS

1. (1) All property within the municipality, other than private property or property maintained by the Government or other local authority, shall vest in the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, and shall, with all other property of whatever nature and kind which may become vested in the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, be under its direction, management and control, unless the State Government otherwise directs by notification, namely:--
   • (a) all public roads including the soil, the pavements, stones and other materials thereof, and all drains, bridges, trees, erections, materials, implements and other things provided for such roads;
   • (b) all public streams, channels, water courses, springs, tanks, reservoirs, cisterns, wells, aqueducts, conduits, tunnels, pipes, pumps and other water-works, whether made, laid or created at the cost of the Nagar Panchayat or of the Council or otherwise and all bridges, buildings, engines, works, materials and things connected therewith or appertaining thereto and also any adjacent land, not being private property, appertaining to any public tanks: Provided that water-pipes and water-works connected therewith or appertaining thereto which with the consent of the Nagar Panchayat or of the Council are laid or set up in any street by the owners of any mill, factory, workshop or the like primarily for the use of their employees shall not be deemed to be public water-works by reason of their use by the public;
   • (c) all public sewers and drains, and all works, materials and things appertaining thereto and other conservancy works;
   • (d) all sewage, rubbish and offensive matter collected by the Nagar Panchayat or by the Council from roads, latrines, sewers, cesspools and other places;
   • (e) all public lamps, lamp-posts and apparatus connected there with or appertaining thereto, and all public gates, markets, slaughter houses and public buildings of every description which have been constructed or are maintained out of the municipal fund; and
   • (f) all land or other property transferred to the Nagar Panchayat or Council, as the case may be, by the Government or acquired by the Nagar Panchayat or Council, as the case may be, by gift, purchase or otherwise for local public purposes.
2. (2) The State Government may, by notification direct that any property which has vested in the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, shall cease to be so vested, and the State Government may pass such orders as it may deem fit regarding the disposal and management of such property.
3. (3) The State Government may resume any immovable property transferred to the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, by itself or any other local authority for a public purpose on payment of the amount paid by the Nagar Panchayat or by the Council, as the case may be, for such transfer and the market value at the date of resumption of any building or works subsequently created or executed thereon by the Nagar Panchayat or by the Council, as the case may be: Provided that compensation need not be paid for buildings or works constructed or created in contravention of the terms of the transfer.

Notwithstanding anything contained in section 6 or 13, no Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, shall transfer any immovable property except in pursuance of a resolution passed at a meeting thereof by a majority of not less than two-third of its members and except when it is not required for local public purposes: Provided that in the case of property which has been transferred to it by the State Government the transfer under this section shall be subject to the previous sanction of the State Government: Provided further that nothing in this section shall apply to leases of immovable property for a term not exceeding two years in total.

1. (1) The Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, may enter into any contract necessary for the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) Every contract made by or on behalf of the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, in respect of any sum exceeding ten thousand rupees shall be sanctioned by the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, at a meeting and shall be in writing and shall be signed by at least two Councillors one of whom shall be the Chairperson or the Vice-Chairperson and in absence of both the Executive Officer. Every such contract shall be sealed with common seal of the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be.
3. (3) Any contract made in contravention of sub-section (2) shall not be binding on the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be.

1. (1) The Nagar Panchayat or the Council at a meeting may agree with the person in whom the properly in any road, bridge, tank, ghat, well, channel, or drain, vests to take over the property therein or the control thereof, and after such agreement may declare by notice in writing put up thereon or near thereto that such roads, bridge, tank, ghat, well, channel or drain has been transferred to the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be.
2. (2) On completion of the transfer, the property shall vest in the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, and shall thenceforth be repaired and maintained out of the municipal fund.

When any land, whether within or without the limits of a municipality is required for the purposes of this Act, the State Government may, at the request of the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, proceed to acquire it under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), and on payment by the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, of the compensation awarded under that Act and of any other charges incurred in acquiring the land, the land shall vest in the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be.

1. (1) There shall be formed for each Nagar Panchayat and for each Council a municipal fund to be called the "Municipal Fund" and it shall be held by the Nagar Panchayat or by the Council, as the case may be, for the purposes of this Act and subject to the provisions thereof.
2. (2) The Municipal Fund shall vest in the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be.

1. (1) There shall be credited to the municipal fund:--
   • (a) all sums received by or on behalf of the Nagar Panchayat or the Council under the provisions of this Act or of any other law for the time being in force or under any contract;
   • (b) the balance, if any, standing at the credit of the Nagar Panchayat or the Council at the commencement of this Act;
   • (c) all proceeds of the disposal of property by, or on behalf of, the Nagar Panchayat or the Council;
   • (d) all rents accruing from any property of the Nagar Panchayat or the Council;
   • (e) all moneys raised by any tax levied for the purposes of this Act;
   • (f) all fees payable and levied under this Act;
   • (g) all moneys received by the Nagar Panchayat or by the Council by way of compensation or for compounding offences under the provisions of this Act;
   • (h) all moneys received by, or on behalf of, the Nagar Panchayat or the Council from the State Government or private individuals by way of grants, contribution, gift or deposits; and
     • (i) all interest and profit, arising from any investment of, or from any transaction in connection with, any money belonging to the Nagar Panchayat or the Council.
2. (2) Nothing in this section or in this Act shall affect any obligation of a Nagar Panchayat or of a Council arising from a trust legally imposed upon or accepted by the Nagar Panchayat or by the Council, as the case may be.

1. (1) A Nagar Panchayat or a Council may, with the previous sanction of the State Government and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed as to security, the rate of interest and the repayment of principal and interest, borrow either from the State Government or any financial institution, any sum of money required or empowered to undertake under the provisions of this Act.
2. (2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) or the rules made thereunder shall apply to grants or loans or advance made to a Nagar Panchayat or to a Council by any department, office or authority of the State Government or by any local authority or by any other institution towards, and for the purpose of, the implementation, achievement and accomplishment of community development schemes and a Nagar Panchayat or a Council may accept any such grant or loan which shall be regulated and governed by the terms on which, and the conditions subject to which, the same is made or advanced.

1. (1) All property vested in a Nagar Panchayat or in a Council under this Act, all funds received by it in accordance with the provisions of this Act and all sums accruing to under the provisions of any law for the time being in force shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be applied for the purposes of this Act, within the limits of the municipality.
2. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), it shall be lawful for a Nagar Panchayat or a Council, as the case may be, subject to rules made under this Act:--
   • (a) to incur expenditure beyond the municipal limits on the acquisition of land, or on the construction, maintenance or repair of works, for the purpose of obtaining supply of water required for inhabitants of the municipality or on establishing slaughter houses or places for the disposal of night-soil or sewage or carcasses of animals or for drainage works, or for the purpose of providing mechanically propelled transport facilities for the conveyance of the public or for the purpose of setting up dairies or farms for the supply, distribution and procuring of milk-products for the benefit of the inhabitants of the municipality or for any other purpose calculated to promote the health, safety or convenience of the inhabitants of the municipality; or
   • (b) to take a contribution towards expenditure incurred by any other local authority or out of any public fund for measures affecting the health, safety or convenience of public calculated to benefit the residents within the limits of the contributing municipality; or
   • (c) to create scholarship tenable outside the limits of municipality; or
   • (d) to utilise the municipal fire brigade and other mechanical appliance beyond the municipal limits; or
   • (e) to make with the previous sanction of the State Government any other kind of contribution as may be deemed necessary by the Nagar Panchayat or the Council: Provided that nothing in this section or in any other provision of this Act shall be deemed to make it unlawful for a Nagar Panchayat or a Council, when it has constructed works beyond the limits of the municipality for the supply of water or electrical energy or for drainage as aforesaid--
   • (a) to supply or extend to or for the benefit of any person or building or lands in any place whether such place is not within the limits of the said municipality, any quantity of water or electrical energy not required for the purpose of this Act within the said municipality or the advantages afforded by the system of drainage works, on such terms and conditions with regard to payment and to the continuance or such supply advantages as shall be settled by agreement between the Nagar Panchayat or the Council, as the case may be, and such persons or the occupier or owner of such buildings or land; or
   • (b) to incur any expenditure on such terms with regard to payment as may be settled as aforesaid for the construction, maintenance, repair or charge of any connection pipe or any electric supply lines or other works necessary for the purposes of such supply or for the extension of such supply or for the extension of such advantages.

1. (1) A Nagar Panchayat or a Council at a meeting specially convened for the purpose, two months before the close of the financial year, shall prepare in such form and manner as may be prescribed, a budget showing inter alia the probable receipts and expenditure during the ensuing year and after such revision as may appear requisite it shall pass the budget and such budget shall be submitted to the Director for obtaining approval of the State Government: Provided that if the approval is not intimated within one month from the date of the receipt of the budget by the State Government or the receipt of such other information as is called for by the State Government, it shall be taken that the budget is approved.
2. (2) The Nagar Panchayat or the Council may, from time to time, revise any estimates of expenditure with the view of providing for any modification which it may deem advisable to make in the appropriation of the amount at its disposal and such revised budget shall be passed in the manner provided in sub-section (1).
3. (3) When the budget has been passed, the Nagar Panchayat or the Council shall not incur any expenditure under any of the heads of the budget in excess of the amount sanctioned under that head without making a provision for such excess by a revision of the budget in the manner specified in sub-section (2).

1. (1) Every municipality shall maintain such accounts for every financial year in such forms as may be prescribed and submit such statement to the Deputy Commissioner, the Director and the State Government and such accounts shall be audited by the Director, Local Fund Audit and Accounts of the Government of Manipur in such manner as may be prescribed.
2. (2) The municipality shall comply with such directions as the State Government may deem fit to issue after going through the audit report respecting it.
3. (3) The municipality shall pay out of the municipal fund such sum as may be determined by the State Government by way of charges for such audit.

1. (1) The State Finance Commission constituted under section 97 of the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (26 of 1994), shall also review the financial position of the municipalities and make recommendations to the Governor as to--
   • (a) the principles which should govern--
     • (i) the distribution between the State and the municipalities of the net proceeds of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State, which may be divided between them under this Act and the allocation between the municipalities at all levels of their respective shares of such proceeds;
     • (ii) the determination of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees which may be assigned to, or appropriated by, the municipalities;
     • (iii) the grant-in-aid to the municipalities from the Consolidated Fund of the State;
   • (b) the measures needed to improve the financial position of the municipalities;
   • (c) any other matter referred to the Finance Commission by the Governor in the interests of sound finance of the municipalities.
2. (2) The Governor shall cause every recommendation made by the Commission under this section together with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken thereon to be laid before the Legislature of the State.