Praja Foundation conducted a two year-long study across several Indian cities, in which Kerala topped the Urban Governance Index (UGI).
The study said that although the state ranked high in terms of financial empowerment, it still has a long way to go in empowering urban governance.
Kerala’s top ranking in the Urban Governance Index is an acknowledgement of its achievements in decentralised planning.
The state scored 59.31 out of a possible 100 on various parameters, while Odisha stood second with 55.10 marks.
In fiscal empowerment, Kerala managed to score 23.22 out of 30 points, while Maharashtra stood second with 21.15 points.
However, it ranks only 20th in empowerment of municipal administration.
The report said that Kerala is the only state that has given the power to the mayor to write the ‘annual confidential report’ of the commissioner.
Only four states (Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mizoram and Odisha) mandate that every councillor be part of at least one deliberative committee.
Additionally, the eighteen functions assigned to municipal governments under the 12th Schedule of the Constitution are increasingly being managed by multiple agencies, reducing the independence of municipal governments.
