What is in news : In order to extend the facility for booking community halls of Cantonment Boards online without any physical application, a ‘Community Hall Booking module’ has now been made live on the eChhawani portal for greater ease of living for Cantonment residents.

About :

• Ministry: Ministry of Defence
• Objective: To provide online civic services to over 20 lakh residents of 62 Cantonment Boards across India.
• Through the portal, the residents of cantonment areas will be able to avail basic services like renewal of leases, application for birth & death certificates, water & sewerage connections, etc.
• Developed by: eGov Foundation, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE) and National Informatics Centre (NIC).

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

CANTONMENT BOARDS

• Created for municipal administration for civilian population in the cantonment areas. Created as well as administered by the provisions of the Cantonments Act of 2006
• Under the administrative control of union defence ministry.
• There are 62 cantonment boards in the country.
• Members are partly elected and partly nominated.
• Elected members hold the office for a term of 5 years
• Nominated members continue as long as they hold the office
• The military officer who is commanding the station is the ex-officio president of the board and he presides over its meetings.
• The board’s vice-president is elected by the elected members from amongst themselves and he holds the position for five years.
• The functions are similar to those of a municipality.
• The source of income of the boards includes both, tax and non-tax revenue.