Cantonment Boards

Why is in news? ELECTION TO CANTONMENT BOARDS

Ordinary elections to Cantonment Boards are held to fill vacancies arising by efflux of time in the office of elected members of the Boards.

The elections to the Cantonment Boards are held as per the provisions of the Cantonment Electoral Rules, 2007 which are available on DGDE website.

As per sub-section (1) of Section 28 of Cantonment Act, 2006, every person who, on such date as may be fixed by the Central Government in this behalf by notification in the Official Gazette, is not less than eighteen years of age and who has resided in the Cantonment for a period of not less than six months immediately preceding the qualifying date shall, if not otherwise disqualified, be entitled to be enrolled as an elector.

The disqualifications for being enrolled as an elector are listed in sub-section (2) of Section 28 of the Act.

A cantonment board is a civic administration body in India under control of the Ministry of Defence.

The board comprises elected members besides ex-officio and nominated members as per the Cantonments Act, 2006.

The term of office of a member of a board is five years.

A cantonment board consists of eight elected members, three nominated military members, three ex-officio members (station commander, garrison engineer and senior executive medical officer), and one representative of the district magistrate.

There are 62 Cantonment Boards in India, managed by Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE).

Cantonments are divided into four categories, namely,

Category I – population exceeds fifty thousand

Category II – population exceeds ten thousand, but does not exceed fifty thousand

Category III – population exceeds two thousand five hundred, but does not exceed ten thousand

Category IV – population does not exceed two thousand five hundred.

Ministry of Defence has recommended abolishing the DGDE, and redistributing its functions among the armed forces and other audit bodies.

Functions of the cantonment board:

The cantonment board takes care of mandatory duties such as provision of public health, water supply, sanitation, primary education, and street lighting etc.

As the resources are owned by government of India, it can't levy any tax. Government of India provides the financial assistance.

It is the duty of the president of the cantonment board:

unless prevented by reasonable cause, to convene and preside at all meetings of the board and to regulate the conduct of business;

to control, direct and supervise the financial and executive administration of the board;

to perform all the duties and exercise all the powers specially imposed or conferred on the president by or under this act; and

Subject to any restrictions, limitations and conditions imposed by this Act, to exercise executive power for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

In case of gross misconduct during the course of meeting, to suspend a member other than a chief executive officer from attending the un-conduct part of the meeting of the Board.