Assessment Of Revenue And Expenditure Patterns In Urban Local Bodies Of Maharashtra

This paper is concerned with respect to asses the revenue and expenditure patterns in the various Urban Local Bodies(ULBs) in Maharashtra. The context for this is the finance commissions at the state and central levels as well as the 74th constitutional amendment. Without the requisite resources, the de jure transfer of functions to ULBs will be a vacuous exercise with no de facto change. Whilst looking at the aggregate picture is fine, here we look also at the subcategories of Municipal Corporations and Councils separately. In addition, we also consider the aspect of the quality of service delivery by the corporations. To meaningfully operationalize the spirit and letter of 74th CAA, it is necessary that ULBs come out with a serious and innovative action plan to increase their resources. The paper also provides a fairly comprehensive status report on the different aspects related to – revenue expenditure patterns – ULBs in Maharashtra. For the purposes of accountability as well as evaluation, such an exercise is useful as a foundational building block that needs to be replicated across states.