History
The Madras Corporation is the oldest municipal body of the Commonwealth of Nations outside the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1688 to control the powers of the then Governor of Madras, Elihu Yale. The Corporation was created by a Royal Charter issued on December 30, 1687 by King James II on the advice of the chairman of the East India Company, Josiah Child.
Prior to the establishment of the corporation, the Governor of Madras or the Company's agent managed the affairs of the Fort St George and its residents with the assistance of a headman, an accountant, and the head of watch and ward. The Governor sat as Madras's Justice of the Peace. Taxes were introduced by Governor Streynsham Master (1678–1681). Complications arising out of these impositions and the growing expenses of an expanding town led to Sir Josiah drawing up plans for a more formal body of civic administration. The Corporation was inaugurated on 29 September 1688, when the new Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses took their oaths. The first members of the Corporation were representatives from diverse ethnicities. Nathaniel Higginson was the first Mayor, and he appointed representatives from the English, Scottish, French, Portuguese, and Indian mercantile communities as Aldermen. The post of the Mayor was held for one year at a time, the Mayor being elected by the Aldermen, whose term of office was for life.
By 1856, the duties of the Corporation became more clearly defined. In 1919, the Aldermen were re-styled as 'Councillors'. The title of 'Mayor' had been replaced by 'President', and P. Theagaraya Chetty was nominated as President, the first Indian to be so chosen. However, the office of Mayor was re-created in 1933, when Kumararajah M. A. Muthiah Chettiar made the transition from last President to first new Mayor. The mayoralty has remained thereafter.
In 1913, the Corporation moved to the newly constructed Ripon Building, which was built on parts of the People's Park. The building was named after Lord Ripon who, as Viceroy of India from 1880 to 1884, had introduced local government reforms. He is remembered in a statue in the Corporation precincts. The first native Indian to both govern the Madras Presidency and later serve as Mayor of erstwhile Madras was the Honourable L. Sriramulu Naidu, who served during the 1930s and 1940s.
Read more about this topic: Chennai Corporation
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