Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is the local government for the City of Chennai in the Chennai Metropolitan Area of Tamil Nadu, India. Inaugurated as the Corporation of Madras on 29 September 1688, under a royal charter issued by King James II on 30 December 1687, it is the oldest municipal body in the Commonwealth of Nations outside Britain. It is the second oldest municipal corporation in the world after the City of London. The body is the largest municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu, with an area of 426 km2.

The corporation is headed by a mayor, who presides over 200 councillors, each of whom represents one of the 200 wards of the city.Delimited Ward The city limits, which had been expanded several times over the years, is coterminous with the Chennai district. It is one of the four municipal corporations located within the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the other three being the Tambaram Corporation, Avadi City Municipal Corporation and Kanchipuram Municipal Corporation.

History The Madras Corporation is the oldest municipal body in the Commonwealth of Nations outside the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1688 to control the powers of the Governor of Madras, Elihu Yale. The corporation was created by a royal charter issued on 30 December 1687 by King James II on the advice of the chairman of the East India Company, Josiah Child, on the model of Dutch government in the East Indies. The charter constituted the existing town of Fort St. George and all the territories belonging to the town, not exceeding a distance of ten miles from the fort, into a corporation. An 1792 act of the Imperial Parliament conferred the new corporation power to levy municipal taxes in the city. The municipal administration also commenced from this act, making provision for the administration of the city. The Municipal Act continued to be amended, constantly introducing major changes in the constitution and powers of the corporation from time to time.

Prior to the establishments 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 with power to decide on petty cases, levy rates upon the inhabitants for building of schools, a town hall and a jail, when the new mayor, 12 aldermen and 60 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.

By 1901, the corporation had grown to encompass an area of 68 sq km comprising 30 territorial divisions with a population of 540,000. 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 K. Sriramulu Naidu, who served during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1978, the boundaries of the area administered by the corporation was increased to 174 sq km.

The Madras Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 (as amended) provides the basic statutory authority for the administration now.

Major expansions Year Changes made Increase/Decrease in Area (in square miles) Particulars of places included/excluded Refs 1931 East Mambalam 1946 Inclusion of 30 revenue villages from Saidapet taluk of Chingleput District resulting in increase of area from 29.50 to 49.50 square miles 20Sembiam, Siruvallur, Peruvallur, Chinna Chembarambakkam, Ayanavaram, Puliyur, Saligrammam (Part), Mambalam, Kodambakkam, Saidapet, Government Farm, Adyar, Mullam, Aminjikarai, Periakudal, Naduvakkarai, Chinnakudal, Arumbakkam, Agaram (Vada), Velachery (Part), Urur, Kottur, Pallipattu, Kalikunram, Guindy Park, Ekkaduthangal, Alandur, Thirumangalam 1978 Inclusion of 11 eleven town panchayats and 1 village panchayat from Saidapet taluk Thiruvanmiyur, Virugambakkam, Kanagam and Taramani, Velachery, Saligrammam, Kodambakkam Town Panchayat, Villivakkam, Erukkancheri, Koyambedu, Kolathur, Thirumangalam, Kodungaiyur 2011 Inclusion of 42 small bodies, including 9 municipalities, 8 town panchayats and 25 village panchayats from Ambattur, Ponneri and Poonamallee taluks of Tiruvallur district and Tambaram and Sriperumbudur taluks of Kancheepuram districtMunicipalities of Kathivakkam, Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Maduravoyal, Valasaravakkam, Alandur and Ullagaram–Puzhuthivakkam; Town panchayats of Chinnasekkadu, Puzhal, Porur, Nandambakkam, Meenambakkam, Perungudi, Pallikaranai and Sholinganallur

Administration

City officials, as of March 2026  Mayor Priya Rajan Deputy Mayor M. Mahesh Kumar Corporation Commissioner G. S. Sameeran Commissioner of Police A. Amalraj

From among themselves, the councillors elect the mayor and a deputy mayor who preside over about 10 standing committees. The council normally meets once a month. The executive wing is headed by the Commissioner. In addition, there are deputy commissioners, various heads of departments and 15 zonal officers.

The first native Indian to govern the Madras Presidency as well as serve later as the first Mayor post-independence of erstwhile Madras was L. Sriramulu Naidu. Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, houses the state executive and legislative headquarters primarily in the Secretariat Buildings on the Fort St George campus but also in several other buildings in the city. The Madras High Court, whose jurisdiction extends across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, is the highest judicial authority in the state. The district of Chennai has four parliamentary constituencies—Chennai North, Chennai Central, Chennai South and Sriperumbudur, which elects 29 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) to the state legislature.

The metropolitan region of Chennai covers many suburbs that are part of Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur districts. The larger suburbs are governed by town municipalities, and the smaller ones are governed by town councils called panchayats. While the city covers an area of , the metropolitan area is spread over . The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has drafted a Second Master Plan that aims to develop satellite townships around the city. Contiguous satellite towns include Mahabalipuram to the south, Chengalpattu and Maraimalai Nagar to the southwest, and Kanchipuram, Sriperumpudur, Tiruvallur and Arakkonam to the west.

Administrative divisions

The city is classified into three regions: North Chennai, Central Chennai and South Chennai. It is further divided into 15 zones, consisting of 200 wards. The newly annexed areas were divided into 93 wards, and the remaining 107 wards were created out of the original 155 within the old city limits. , the new wards are yet to be named. Out of the 200 wards, 26 were reserved for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and 58 were reserved for women.

The 15 Zones are:

Elections

The seats of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Greater Chennai Corporation Council have been vacant since 2016. As part of the 2022 Tamil Nadu urban civic body elections, the Greater Chennai Corporation went to polling on 19 February 2022, alongside 20 other municipal corporations of Tamil Nadu, to elect 200 councillors to represent the city's 200 wards; the councillors will choose one amongst themselves as the Mayor of Chennai, a historically significant, coveted office. The Government of Tamil Nadu had announced that the Mayor's seat has been reserved for a Scheduled Caste woman this time. The election results were announced on 22 February 2022 by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won 153 out of the total 200 wards in Chennai, with the other parties in its Secular Progressive Alliance winning 25 more seats—13 for Indian National Congress, four for Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M), four for Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), two for Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), one each for Communist Party of India (CPI) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) won 15 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party of the Union Government of India, won one seat. The Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK) also won a seat. Aside parties, five independent candidates won in their respective wards. The councillors formally elected the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor on 4 March 2022. Having secured an absolute majority, the DMK's mayoral candidate Priya Rajan became the 46th Mayor of Chennai, unopposed. She is the youngest mayor in Chennai's history (aged 28), and the first Dalit woman to hold the office.

Emblem During the British period the Madras Corporation flag had the 'sea, boat, 3 lions and 2 fish'. The 3 lions represented the British and the sea, boat, and fish denoted the seashore of madras. After Independence, the need for changing the flag arose. M.P. Sivagnanam (Ma. Po. Si.) who was heading the education wing of the corporation suggested the Pandiya, Chola, Chera's symbol 'Fish, Tiger and Bow' (which he already had in his 'Tamil arasu kazhagam's flag). Rajaji agreed with his suggestion.

Budget As of 2020, the city government's budget is , out of which was earmarked for capital expenditure, is to be spent on the smart city project and a massive on laying bus routes, construction of new bridges and other methods of improve the transport infrastructure of the city.

Location and demography Chennai Corporation area is located on the Coromandel Coast in the central eastern coastal region of the Deccan Plateau and the northern end of the state of Tamil Nadu. The city stretches along the coast covering about 43 km of sandy beach and extending about 19 km inland, encompassing an area of 426 sq km. The estimated population is about 7.1 million as of 2014.

Functions