Video Lecture
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT: PANCHAYAT & MUNICIPALITIES |
- Constitutional status: 73rd and 74th amendment act 1992
- Local Government is state subject under seventh schedule.
- Article 40 – reads ‘the State shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government’.
- Rajasthan was the first state to establish Panchayati Raj. The scheme was inaugurated by the prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on October 2, 1959, in Nagaur district.
- Subject of ‘urban local government’ is dealt with: -Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs + Ministry of Defence + Ministry of Home Affairs.
| EVOLUTION OF PANCHAYAT: |
| YEAR | COMMITTEE | RECOMMENDATIONS |
| 1957 | Balwant Rai Mehta Committee: To examine working of community development programs and national extension services |
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| 1977 | Ashok Mehta committee (committee on Panchayati raj institutions |
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| 1978 | Dantewala Committee: |
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| 1984 | Hanumanth Rao Committee | • On District Planning |
| 1985 | G V K Rao Committee: To examine programs of rural development and poverty alleviation |
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| 1986 | L M Singhvi Committee: Revitalization of panchayat raj for democracy and development.
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The Committee concluded that the developmental process was gradually bureaucratized and divorced from the Panchayati Raj and called PRIs as ‘grass without roots’. |
| 1988 | Thungon Committee: District planning |
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| 1988 | Gadgil Committee: Committee on policy and programs |
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| EVOLUTION OF MUNICIPALITY: |
| 1687 | Madras first municipal corporation |
| 1726 | Municipal corporation of Bombay and Calcutta |
| 1870 | Lord Mayo’s resolution on financial decentralization |
| 1882 | Lord Ripon resolution –Magna Carta of local self-government |
| 1907 | Royal commission on Decentralization |
| 1919 | Govt of India act, local self govt. become transferred subject |
| 1924 | Cantonments Acts |
| 1935 | Govt. of India act – local govt. become provincial subject |
| PANCHAYAT (73RD AMENDMENT ACT 1992) |
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CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS: |
o 243 G – Authority o 243 H – Representation o 243 I – Finance commission |
| GRAM SABHA: | Symbol of direct democracy + All voters of the village are its members + Functions are determined by state legislature. |
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THREE-TIER PANCHAYAT SYSTEM:
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• Bring uniformity in structure of Panchayati raj throughout the country
• Village, Intermediatory, district levels-panchayats • State having population not exceeding20 lakh may not constitute panchayat at intermediate level • All members are directly elected at all institute of local government • Chairperson: elected in such manner state legislature may prescribe.
• Reservation for scheduled caste not applicable to Arunachal Pradesh. • Duration: five years. • Panchayat reconstituted after premature dissolution does not enjoy the full period of five years but remains in office only for remainder of period.
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DISQUALIFICATION: |
A person disqualified to be member under:
1. Any law for the time being in force for purpose of elections to the legislature of state concerned 2. Under any law of state legislature 3. No person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less 25 years of age if he has attained the age of 21 years. |
| STATE ELECTION COMMISSION
(Art. 243 K):
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• Conduct of all election to panchayat shall be vested in state election commission
• Conditions and tenure of office of state election commissioner shall also be determined by governor. • With regard to state election commissioner: Conditions of service may not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment. |
| POWERS, FUNCTIONS AND FINANCES DETERMINED BY STATE LEGISLATURE: | • 29 matters that can be transferred to panchayat there in 11th schedule.
• Preparation of plans and implementation of plans for economic development and social justice. • Finances: state legislature may authorize panchayat to levy taxes, assign from collected revenue of state, grants in aid by states. |
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STATE FINANCE COMMISSION:
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• Governor constitutes once in five year
• Composition + qualification: determined by state legislature • Central finance commission can recommend measures to augment the consolidated fund of state and supplement the resources of the panchayat in the state. |
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OTHER PROVISIONS |
• Audit and accounts: state legislature determines
• Election petitions: state legislature determines • Application to UT: President shall apply the provision of the act • Certain areas are exempted – Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and others (hill areas of Manipur and Darjeeling). |
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PESA ACT OF 1996:
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• PART IX provision is not applicable to fifth schedule areas. Extension of these provisions with certain modification in scheduled area.
• Self-rule with administrative framework consistent with traditional practices. |
| MUNICIPALITY (74TH AMENDMENT ACT 1992) |
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CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS: |
o 243 W-authority o 243 X-representation o 243 Y-finance commission o 243 ZD- district planning committee o 243 ZE-Metropolitan planning committee. |
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THREE TYPES OF MUNICIPALITY:
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1. Nagar panchayat (rural to urban transition area)
2. Municipal council (small urban area) 3. Municipal corporation (large urban area) Ward committee: exists if population of municipality is more than 3 lakhs, remaining all as panchayat. |
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ELECTIONS:
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FUNCTIONS:
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TYPES OF URBAN GOVT:
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| DISTRICT PLANNING COMMITTEE (DPC): |
- State legislature determine the mode of elections.
- Article 243ZD: to consolidate plans of panchayat and municipalities and to prepare a draft development plan.
- 4/5th members of DPC should be elected by the elected members of the district panchayat and municipalities in the district from amongst themselves.
- 1/5th members are nominated
- Elected member is proportionate to rural: urban population.
| METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMITTEE (243ZE): |
- Metropolitan area – An area in the country where population is above 10 Lakh (Article 243P)
- To prepare a draft development plan.
- 2/3rd members of MPC should be elected by the elected members of the municipalities and chairpersons of the panchayats in the metropolitan area from amongst themselves.
- 1/3rd nominated
- Elected member is proportionate to rural: urban population.
| CENTRAL COUNCIL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: |
- Set up in 1954. It was constituted under Article 263 (Inter-state council) of the Constitution of India by an order of the President of India as an advisory body.
- Chairperson – Union minister for Urban Development
- Composition-It consists of the Minister in the Government of India and the ministers for local self-government in states.
