Panchayatraj Act 1992

Panchayats have been a vibrant and dynamic identity of theIndian villages since the beginning of recorded history.Gandhiji, the Father of the Nation, in 1946 had aptly remarkedthat the Indian Independence must begin at the bottom andevery village ought to be a Republic with Panchayat, havingpowers. Gandhi’s dream has been translated into reality withthe introduction of the three-tier Panchayati Raj System toensure people’s participation in rural reconstruction.73rd Amendment Act, 1992The passage of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992marks a new era in the federal democratic set up of the countryand provides constitutional status to the Panchayati RajInstitutions (PRIs). Consequent upon the enactment of theAct, almost all the States/ UTs, except J&K, National CapitalTerritory (NCT) Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh have enacted theirlegislation. Except Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, NCTDelhi and Pondicherry, all other States/ UTs have held elections.As a result, 2,27,698 Panchayats at village level; 5,906 Panchayatsat intermediate level and 474 Panchayats at district level havebeen constituted in the country. These Panchayats are beingmanned by about 34 lakh elected representatives of Panchayatsat all levels. This is the broadest representative base that exists inany country of the world - developed or underdeveloped.The main features of the Act are –(i) a 3-tier System of Panchayati Raj for all States havingpopulation of over 20 lakhs;(ii) Panchayat elections to be held regularly every 5 years; (iii)reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribesand women (not less than one-third of seats);(iv) Constitution of State Finance Commission to makerecommendations as regards the financial powers of thePanchayats and(v) Constitution of District Planning Committees to preparedevelopment plans for the district as a whole.As per the 73rd Amendment Act, the Panchayati Raj Institutionshave been endowed with such powers and authority asmay be necessary to function as institutions of self-governmentand contains provisions of devolution of powers and responsibilitiesupon Panchayats at the appropriate level with referenceto(a) The preparation of plans for economic development andsocial justice; and(b) The implementation of such schemes for economicdevelopment and social justice as may be entrusted to them.Financial Pow ers of Panchayati Raj InstitutionsArticle 243-G of the Constitution of India provides that theStates/ UTs may, by law, endow the Panchayats with suchpowers and authority as may be necessary to enable them tofunction as institutions of self-government and to prepareplans for economic development and social justice, and theirimplementation including those in relation to the matters listedin the EleventhSchedule.As per Article 243-H of the Constitution, State Legislatures

have been empowered to enact laws:• To authorize a Panchayat to levy, collect and appropriatesome taxes, duties, tolls and fees;• To assign the Panchayat, some taxes, duties and tolls levied,and collected by the State Government;• To provide for making grants-in-aid to the Panchayats fromthe Consolidated Fund of the State; and• To provide for constitution of such funds for Panchayats forcrediting all money received by or on behalf of Panchayatsand also the withdrawal of such money therefrom.Article 243-I of the Constitution provides for constitution of aState Finance Commission (SFC) to review the financialposition of Panchayats and to make recommendations to theGovernor regarding the principles governing the major issuesmentioned in Article 243- H. All the States/ UTs barringArunachal Pradesh, constituted State Finance Commissions andall the SFCs except Bihar have submitted their Reports to therespective State Governments. The States of Assam, Karnataka,Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,Tripura and West Bengal have accepted most of the recommendationsof the SFCs. Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra &Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep Islands havereceived reports of the Finance Commission which are underconsideration of the nodal Ministry of Home Affairs.The Tenth Finance Commission (TFC), for want of SFCreports, made an adhoc provision of Rs.4381 crores to the PRIsfor the period 1996-2000. All the States were released Grantsamounting to Rs.1095.23 crores during 1996-97 to be given the three tiers ofPanchayats. However, releases during 1997-98 and subsequentyears require the State Governments to furnish utilizationreports.PANCHAYATI RAJ ACT 1992Besides, holding of Panchayat elections regularly is mandatoryfor the release of TFC Grants. The eligible States releasedGrants amounting to Rs. 581.11 crores during 1997-98, Rs.573.31 crores during 1998-99 and Rs.1326.71 crores during1999-2000. Thus, out of total recommended Grants, anamount of Rs. 3576.36 crores was released by the end of 31stMarch 2000. The Tenth Finance Commission Grants lapsed onexpiry of its period, 1996-2000.The Eleventh Finance Commission has recommended Rs.1600crores per annum for rural local bodies and out of total Grants,an amount of Rs.197.06 crores has been earmarked fordevelopment of data base on the finance of the Panchayats andan amount of Rs. 98.61 crores for maintenance of accounts ofPanchayats as the first charge on these Grants. The Commissionhas also recommended that in cases where elected local bodiesare not in place, the Central Government shall hold the Grantsfor local bodies in trust on a non-lapsable basis during 2000-05and that the Central Government may also withhold a part ofthe recommended Grants in case of such bodies whosefunctions and responsibilities have not been devolved. Besides,the Commission has recommended that audit of accounts ofthe local bodies be entrusted to the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (C&AG) who may get it done through his own staff or

by engaging outside agencies on payment basis and an amountof half-a-percent of the total expenditure incurred by the localbodies should be placed with the C&AG for this purpose. Thereport of the C&AG relating to audit of account of thePanchayats should be placed before a Committee of the StateLegislature constituted on the same lines as the Public AccountsCommittee.PROVISIONS OF THE ACTThe Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 and theConstitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 have added newParts IX and IX A to the Constitution. Under these two parts,we have as many as 34 new articles - 243 to 243ZG - and twonew schedules viz. schedules 11 and 12. The 73rd Amendmentgives constitutional recognition to the Panchayats and the 74thAmendment to the Municipalities. Thus, to the Union and theStates, a third tier of governmental instrumentalities has beenadded.There is nothing entirely new about the institutions ofPanchayats and Municipalities. Both these have existed for long.There were local self government and Panchayati Raj laws inmany parts of India. But, unfortunately these institutions werenot able to function satisfactorily for any length of time. Often,they stood superceded. Despite the Gandhian approach oftreating the villages as units of polity and Gandhi’s love forPanchayati Raj institutions, Dr. Ambedkar in the ConstituentAssembly did not favor them and even said some very harshthings like their being dens of corruption, localism, backwardnessetc. Finally, as a compromise or a concession to Gandhi’sviews, article 40 was included under the non- enforceable Part Von the Directive Principles of State Policy. It said that the stateshould take steps to organize Village Panchayats and endowthem with necessary authority “ to function as units of selfgovernment”.Hardly any attention was paid to article 40 until Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi took serious interest and initiative to bringforward a constitutional amendment. It was, however opposedon grounds of its being an effort to reach the Panchayatsdirectly, bypassing the States. The amendment finally became areality during Narasinha Rao’s time.The seventy-third and seventy-fourth constitutional amendmentshave made some fundamental changes in our politicalstructure and in the status of local institutions. These institutionsnow have constitutional protection. The twoamendments provide for the state legislatures making their ownlaws under the constitutional provisions for establishingPanchayats, Municipalities, etc. and conferring on them suchpowers and authority as may be necessary to enable them tofunction as institutions of self-government. In every State, athree-tier system is envisaged. Panchayats are to be established atthe Village and district levels and at the intermediate level.States, which have a population of less than two million, neednot have the intermediate level Panchayats.The important thing is that now Panchayats have to be electeddirectly by the people in the same manner as members of thepopular houses at the Union and State levels are elected i.e.through territorial constituencies. For a Village Panchayat, the

electorate would be the Gram Sabha which would consist ofthose registered in the electoral rolls. These Panchayats cannotremain superceded for long; fresh elections would have to beheld within six months of the dissolution of a Panchayat.Secondly, in all panchayats, seats would be reserved for women,Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. There shall be a fixedfive-year term for all Panchayats. They shall have their ownbudget, power of taxation and list of items in their jurisdiction.In their respective areas, the Panchayats shall be able to formulatetheir own development plans and implement them. EveryState shall have a State Election. Commissioner for conductingPanchayat elections and every five years a State Finance Commissionshall be constituted to take stock of the economiccondition of the Panchayats.Similarly, in the 74th Amendment, there are provisions forthe setting up of Nagar Palikas and Nagar Panchayats. In thematter of reservations, elections, power of taxation,formulation and implementation of development projects, Iconstitution of a Finance Commission, fixed term, etc., the Iprovisions are very similar to those in the 73rd Amendmentin respect of PanchayatsUnder the distribution of legislative powers between the Unionand the States, local government in both rural and urban areashas been in the exclusive State List. As it is, all the States - somereluctantly - have already passed legislation as required under thenew constitutional provisions. Elections to local bodies havealso been held in almost all the States. Bihar is an exception.Also; the 73rd and 74th Amendments do not apply to theStates of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Jammu andKashmir, the Union Territory of Delhi, hill areas in Manipurand Darjeeling in W. Bengal. Also, these do not apply unlessextended to Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas under article 244.The Constitution (Eighty-third Amendment of the year 2000has added a clause to article 243M to provide that reservation of174INDIAN GOVERNM ENT AND POLITICSseats for the Scheduled Castes under article 243D shall not applyto the State of Arunachal Pradesh.It was hoped that the new Panchayats and Municipalities wouldbegin a new era of real representative and participatory democracywith nearly three and a half million elected representatives -one third of them women - involved in the business ofgovernance all over India thereby bringing power to the peoplewhere it belonged. As things stood, matters causing someconcern were:(i) The Constitution (87th Amendment) Bill, 1999 introducedby the Minister for Rural Development on 16 December1999 seeks to amend article 243 C of the Constitution with aview to give discretion to State Legislatures to provide that allthe seats in panchayats at the intermediate and district levelsshall be filled by persons elected as Chairpersons at the villagelevel panchayats and intermediate level panchayats and also toprovide discretion in the manner in which the Chairpersonsof the panchayats at the intermediate level or the district levelhave to be elected as has been allowed in case of panchayatsat the village level.

The Amendment Bill followed a request contained in aresolution passed by the Andhra Assembly. The pending Billis being used as an alibi for postponing elections to thedistrict and intermediate level panchayats.(ii) The Area Development Scheme which places at thedisposal of every member of Union Parliament a sum ofRupees two crores every year for being spent in his! her areaon his/ her recommendation on items mentioned in theguide list. There are similar schemes placing funds at thedisposal of MLAs at the level of States. All the Items onwhich these large funds can be spent at the discretion of MPsand MLAs are covered by the eleventh and twelfth schedulesof the Constitution listing schemes to be entrusted to thePanchayats, Municipalities etc.The Area Development Schemes and the like are tantamountto legislators’ foray into the area of executive functions.Secondly, this may seem to be an affront to and a violationof the federal scheme as also of the basic spirit of PanchayatiRaj institutions.(iii) Much can be said for and against the ex-officio membershipof local Lok Sabha members and MLAs on the district andintermediate level panchayats.(iv) The ground realities indicate that, for their own reasons,those elected to Parliament and State Legislatures - the MPs,MLAs and MLCs - have not(v) The details of functioning of the Local Governmentinstitutions are largely left to the initiative of the StateGovernments and are to be settled by them. The States havepassed vastly varied laws according to their own perceptionof what and how much can be devolved on the localauthorities. While the States naturally want the Union totransfer more of effective legislative, executive and financialpowers in wider areas to them, the question is to what extentthey would be themselves willing to decentralize furtherdown and share effective power with local self-governmentinstitutions. So far as the 73rd and 74th ConstitutionAmendments are concerned, these do not themselves conferany powers on panchayats and MunicipalitiesInadequacies of 73rd Amendment Act• The powers and functions of gram sabhas are not defined• Actual devolution of powers to panchayats are left to thediscretion of the state governments• The expression ‘institution of self-government’ is notelaborated• Re-election is not dependent on the good work done by theoffice bearers• There is no provision for Nyaya panchayatSum m aryThe passage of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992marks a new era in the federal democratic set up of the countryand provides constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj. As perthe 73rd Amendment Act, the Panchayati Raj Institutions havebeen endowed with such powers and authority as may benecessary to function as institutions of self-government andcontains provisions of devolution of powers and responsibilitiesupon Panchayats.

Assignm entWhat are the implications of the Panchayat Raj Act, 1992 Andhow has it helped in achieving the goal?

References-

1. Public Policy and politics in India By Kuldeep Mathur

2. Indian Political Trials By A.C. Noorani.

3. Basu, Durga Das. The Laws of the Press in India(1962) Asia Publishing House, Bombay