State and Local Administration Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The 73rd Amendment does not apply in (1), (2) and (3).

Article 243M exempts Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, along with certain hill areas of Manipur and the scheduled and tribal areas, from Part IX, because these areas have their own customary and district council institutions.

Goa has no such exemption and has panchayats under the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, so every option that includes (4) is wrong.

Answer: B

The provision of a Governor is borrowed from the Constitution of Canada.

The Indian scheme of a federation with a strong centre, in which the head of each province or state is appointed by the centre, follows the Canadian model, where provincial lieutenant governors are appointed by the federal government.

In the U.S.A. state governors are elected by the people, England is a unitary state with no such office, and France gave India the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity rather than this office.

Answer: C

Cantonment Boards were established in 1924.

The Cantonments Act, 1924 created cantonment boards with partly elected members to provide civic administration for the civilian population living in military cantonments. It was replaced by the Cantonments Act, 2006.

The years 1919 and 1935 are those of the Government of India Acts, and 1947 of independence; none created cantonment boards.

Answer: B

The special powers are (2), (3) and (4).

The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 gives the Gram Sabha in scheduled areas powers including the power to enforce prohibition or regulate the sale of intoxicants, ownership of minor forest produce (printed in the paper as 'Mimer products'), and the power to manage village markets, along with control over money lending and land alienation.

PESA speaks of the management of minor water bodies, not the administration of canals, so every option that includes (1) is wrong.

Answer: C

In 1787 the Collector was given (1), (3) and (4).

Under Cornwallis's arrangements of 1787, the Collector, who already administered the land revenue, was also made the civil judge and magistrate of his district, so that revenue, civil justice, magistracy and the maintenance of law and order were combined in one officer. The judicial powers were separated again in 1793.

Developmental activities became a function of the Collector only in the twentieth century, especially after independence, so every option containing (2) is wrong.

Answer: C

The most popular form is the Mayor-Council plan.

In the United States the mayor-council form, with an elected mayor and an elected council, is the oldest and, together with the council-manager plan, the most widespread form of city government, and it is the usual form in large cities.

The commission plan, in which elected commissioners each head a department, spread after 1901 but has largely declined. A parliamentary commission is not an American form of city government, and the mayor-administrator plan is a variant of the mayor-council form rather than the general pattern.

Answer: C

(A) and (R) are correct but (R) is not the reason of (A).

(A) is true: the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 provides a Chief Executive Officer and deputies for every Zilla Parishad, appointed by the State Government. (R) is printed in garbled form; it appears to describe the Act's provision that when a special meeting of the Zilla Parishad passes a resolution by not less than two-thirds of the councillors asking for the officer to be withdrawn, the State Government must withdraw him. Read so, (R) is true.

The two statements are separate provisions: how the CEO is appointed does not follow from the Parishad's power to ask for his withdrawal. So (R) does not explain (A). The key rests on this reading of the garbled wording.

Answer: D

The correct matching is (a)-(3), (b)-(4), (c)-(1), (d)-(2).

The other codes match Article 167 with the Governor or Article 169 with the Council of Ministers, both of which are wrong.

Answer: B

Article 243ZD provides for District Planning Committees.

Added by the 74th Amendment, it requires every state to constitute a District Planning Committee to consolidate the plans prepared by the panchayats and municipalities in the district and prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole.

Panchayati Raj in general is Part IX (Articles 243 to 243O). Co-operative societies were given Part IXB (Articles 243ZH onward) by the 97th Amendment in 2011. State Election Commissions are provided for in Articles 243K and 243ZA.

Answer: C

The Metropolitan Planning Committee is provided for in Article 243ZE.

It requires a Metropolitan Planning Committee in every metropolitan area to prepare a draft development plan for the area as a whole, taking into account the plans of the municipalities and panchayats within it.

The neighbouring articles cover other matters. Article 243ZD sets up District Planning Committees; Article 243ZC says Part IXA does not apply to certain scheduled and tribal areas; and Article 243ZG bars interference by courts in municipal electoral matters.