Cantonment board
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.[1] The term of office of a member of a board is five years.[2] 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).[3]
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.[4]
Functions
The cantonment board takes care of mandatory duties such as provision of public health, water supply, sanitation, primary education, and street lighting etc.[5] 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.
List of cantonment boards
North
Himachal Pradesh
- Bakloh (near Chamba)
- Dagshai (near Solan)
- Dalhousie Cantonment (Near Chamba)
- Jutogh (near Shimla)
- Kasauli(Solan)
- Sabathu (near Solan)
- Yol (near Dharamshala)
Jammu and Kashmir
- Badami Bagh (near Srinagar)
- Jammu
North-West
Delhi
Haryana
Punjab
Rajasthan
North-Central
Uttarakhand
Central
Madhya Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
West
Gujarat
Maharashtra
East
Bihar
Jharkhand
Meghalaya
West Bengal
- Barrackpur
- Dum Dum
- Jalapahar (in Darjeeling)
- Lebong (in Darjeeling)
South
Karnataka
Kerala
Tamil Nadu
Telangana
References
- "Cantonments Act, 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-31. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
- Government of India (1 August 2014). "Election for Cantonment Boards". Elections of Cantonment Board. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
- "Annual Administration Report 2020-21" (PDF). dgde.gov.in. Directorate General Defence Estates, Ministry of Defence. p. 5. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
There are 62 Cantonments in the country located in 19 States/UT
- "Antony to the defence".
- cantonment board of Delhi. "functions and Duties" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.