If any order made by the State Government under this chapter is not complied with, it shall be lawful for the State Government to take such steps as it thinks fit to secure the compliance of the order and to direct that all expenses therefore shall be defrayed from the Municipal Fund.
122. Special audit - In addition to the audit of annual accounts, the State Government or the municipality may, if it thinks fit, appoint an auditor to conduct special audit pertaining to a specified item or series of items requiring thorough examination, and the procedure relating to audit shall apply mutatis mutandis to such special audit.
123. Internal and social audit - The State Government or the municipality may provide for internal audit of the day-to-day accounts of the municipality in the manner prescribed.
124. Municipal Accounts Committee
(1) The Municipal Corporation and the Municipal Council shall, at its first meeting in each year or as soon as may be at any meeting subsequent thereto, constitute a Municipal Accounts Committee.
(2) The Municipal Accounts Committee shall consist of –
(a) such number of persons, not being less than three and not more than fifteen, as the State Government may determine, by notification for the municipality, to be nominated by the Council among the elected councillors not being the members of the Standing Committee from amongst themselves; and
(b) such number of persons, not being the councillors, officers, or other employees of the municipality and not exceeding two in number, having knowledge and experience in financial matters, as may be nominated by the municipality:
Provided that the persons nominated under clause (b) shall have no right of voting at the meeting of the Municipal Accounts Committee.
(3) The members of the Municipal Accounts Committee shall elect from amongst themselves one member to be its Chairperson.
>kj[k.M xtV ¼vlk/kkj.k½] o`gLifrokj 9 Qjojh] 2012 476
(4) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the members of the Municipal Accounts Committee shall hold office until a new committee is constituted.
(5) The vacancy arising out of the submission of resignation by the Chairperson or any other member in the committee shall be filled according to subsection (2) and (3).
(6) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules and the regulations made thereunder, it shall be the duty of the Municipal Accounts Committee -
(a) to examine the accounts of the municipality showing the appropriation of sums granted by the municipality for its expenditure and the annual financial accounts of the municipality;
(b) to examine and scrutinize the report on the accounts of the municipality by the auditors appointed under section 117, and to satisfy itself that the moneys shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were available for, and applicable to, the services or purposes to which they were applied or charged and that the expenditure was incurred in accordance with the authority governing such expenditure;
(c) to submit report to the Standing Committee every year and from time to time on such examination and scrutiny;
(d) to consider the report of the auditors in cases where the State Government or the municipality requires them to conduct a special audit of any receipt or expenditure of the municipality or to examine the accounts of stores and stocks of the municipality or to check the inventory of the properties of the municipality including its land holdings and buildings; and
(e) to discharge such other functions as may be prescribed.
(7) The Municipal Accounts Committee may call for any book or document if, in its opinion, such book or document is necessary for its work and may requisition such officers of the municipality, as it may consider necessary for explaining any matter in connection with its work.
(8) The manner of transaction of business of the Municipal Accounts Committee shall be such as may be determined by regulation.
>kj[k.M xtV ¼vlk/kkj.k½] o`gLifrokj 9 Qjojh] 2012 477 Chapter - 15 Municipal Property
125. Power to acquire and hold property - The municipality shall, for the purposes of this Act, have power to acquire and hold by gift, purchase or otherwise, movable and immovable properties or any interest therein, whether within or outside the limits of the municipal area.
126. Vesting of property - Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the movable and the immovable properties and all interest whatsoever nature or kind therein of the following categories within the limits of a municipal area, shall vest in the municipalitya. Public lands not belonging to any Government department , statutory body, b. Public tanks, streams, reservoirs, and wells;
c. Public markets and slaughterhouses;
d. Public sewers and drains, channels, tunnels, culverts and watercourses in, alongside, or under, any street;
e. Public streets and pavements, and stones and other materials thereon, and also trees on such public streets or pavements not belonging to any private individual, f. Public parks and gardens, including squares and public open spaces, g. Public ghats on rivers or streams or tanks, h. Public lamps, lamp-posts and apparatus connected therewith, or appertaining thereto, i. Public places for disposal of the dead, excluding those governed by any specific law in this behalf, j. Solid wastes collected on a public street or public place, including dead animals and birds, and k. Stray animals not belonging to any private person.