Madras Municipal Corporation
Also called: Greater Chennai Corporation · Topic: Urban Local Government: Municipalities and Cities · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 12 "Grassroots Democracy – Part 3: Local Government in Urban Areas"
Meaning
The Madras Municipal Corporation is India's oldest municipal body. An East India Company charter of 1687 made Fort St George, and all land within 16 km of it, into a corporation. The corporation was set up on 29 September 1688. A Parliamentary Act of 1792 later allowed it to collect taxes. Today it is the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Example
Class 6 uses the Chennai corporation to show how an old colonial body grew into a modern city government. Its elected council lapsed in 2016, and new elections were held only in 2022.
Don't confuse with
- Lord Ripon's resolution (18 May 1882): this resolution set out the idea of elected local self-government. The Madras Corporation came almost two centuries earlier, as a Company body that was not elected.