The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Milestones in awe-inspiring annals of a civic body

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Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Milestones in awe-inspiring annals of a civic body

Kannal Achuthan

Glory and grandeur mark 320 years of the oldest Corporation in our country

— Photos: Hindu Photo Archives

In retrospect: A silver replica of the Ripon Building was presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she visited the city in February, 1961. (Right) Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar the first Mayor of Madras under the City Municipal Act of 1933.

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation, the oldest in the country, which is celebrating its 320th anniversary, is steeped in history.

There was a time when the Corporation collected paddy toll and its Burgesses, like the councillors of today, wore gowns of white China silk. It was Governor Elihu Yale, who inaugurated the Madras Corporation under instructions from the East India Company’s Court of Directors. Sir Josiah Child planned the formation of the Corporation. In a letter dated September 28, 1687, he proposed the formation of a Corporation composed of Englishmen and a few Indians with a Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses, a Recorder and a Town Clerk. The Royal Charter issued by the Company on December 30, 1687, carried the following heading, “Our Town of Fort St. George commonly called the Christian town and City of Madrassapatam upon the coast of Coromandel in the East Indies and all the territories, thereunto belonging, not exceeding the distance of ten miles from Fort St. George, to be a Corporation under us by the Name and Title of the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Town of Fort St. George and the City of Madrassapatam.”

On September 29, 1688, the Corporation was inaugurated and the first Mayor, Nathaniel Higginson, took oath. It was reorganised in 1727 and the next stage in its growth was in 1753, soon after which there was a controversy about the judicial powers of the Mayor.

In 1792, an Act did away the office of Mayor and Aldermen when the Municipality of Madras was created. Commissioners and Presidents took the Mayor’s place.

In 1933, the office of Mayor was re-introduced and Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar became the first Mayor of Madras under the City Municipal Act passed that year.

There were 43 Mayors before the Council was superseded in 1973. It functioned under a Special Officer till 1996, when M.K. Stalin, the present Local Administration Minister, was elected as Mayor. The city was divided into 30 divisions in 1919. Today it has 155 divisions or wards. It comprised 27.6 sq. miles in 1921 and has now increased to 174 sq. km.

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