Reference books for urban local bodies

Handbook

Unauthorised Constructions: Legal Provisions and Enforcement Procedures

The first volume of the Urban Issues Handbook Series. It brings together the statutory provisions that empower a municipal body to act against unauthorised construction, and sets out the enforcement procedure step by step: inspection, notice, hearing, speaking order, demolition and recovery of costs.

It is written for the officers who must take the decision and defend it later: Municipal Commissioners, Chief Officers, designated officers under the planning law, and the advocates who represent them. Model notices and the judgments that govern each stage are placed beside the procedure they relate to.

The handbook also covers unauthorised construction on Government lands, where questions of title and the role of the Revenue department add a further layer.

Legal compendium

Compendium on Urban Local Bodies: Legal Framework

A single reference to the State and Central laws under which urban local bodies are constituted and function. For each enactment the compendium gives its objects and reasons, its salient provisions and the Supreme Court judgments that have shaped how it is applied.

The laws are arranged by the core areas of municipal work, so that a practitioner can move quickly from a question in the office to the provision that answers it.

The Maharashtra edition is available in English and Marathi. Editions for other States are in preparation.

Compendium

Compendium of Best Practices in Urban Management

Ten best practices for each of eight core urban subjects, presented in three parts: Global, India and Maharashtra. The subjects run from governance and municipal finance to urban resilience and digital governance.

Only officially recognised practices are included. Each entry describes what was done, the impact it had, and a practical method by which another urban local body can replicate it.