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Today we will be dealing with the Panchayati Raj Act, Municipalities and Municipal Corporation. Let's explore then. 

73rd Amendment Act Of 1992:

<ul>
	<li>This act added Part-IX to the Constitution of India. This part is entitled as ‘The Panchayats’</li>
	<li>Part-IX of the Constitution consists of Articles 243 to 243 O.</li>
	<li>This act also added the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution which contains 29 functional items of the panchayats. It deals with Article 243-G.</li>
</ul>

<table cellspacing="0" class="Table" style="border-collapse:collapse; border:none; margin-left:18px">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>
			Articles 
			</td>
			<td>
			Subject Matter
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243
			</td>
			<td>
			Definitions
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243A.
			</td>
			<td>
			Gram Sabha
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243B.
			</td>
			<td>
			Constitution of panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243B.
			</td>
			<td>
			Constitution of panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243C.
			</td>
			<td>
			Composition of panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243D.
			</td>
			<td>
			Reservation of seats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243E
			</td>
			<td>
			Duration of panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243F.
			</td>
			<td>
			Disqualifications for membership
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243G.
			</td>
			<td>
			Powers, authority and responsibilities of panchayats.
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243H
			</td>
			<td>
			Powers to impose taxes by, and funds of, the panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243I.
			</td>
			<td>
			Constitution of finance commission to review financial position
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243J
			</td>
			<td>
			Audit of accounts of panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243I.
			</td>
			<td>
			Constitution of finance commission to

			review financial position
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243J
			</td>
			<td>
			Audit of accounts of panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243K
			</td>
			<td>
			Elections to the panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243L
			</td>
			<td>
			Application to union territories
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243M.
			</td>
			<td>
			Part not to apply to certain areas
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243N
			</td>
			<td>
			Continuance of existing laws and

			panchayats
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			243O.
			</td>
			<td>
			Bar to interference by courts in

			electoral matters
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

The act has given a practical shape to Article 40 of the Constitution which directs the state to organise village panchayats and endow them with powers and authority to enable them to function as units of self-government. The act has brought the panchayati raj institutions under the purview of the justiciable part of the Constitution. This means that the state governments are under constitutional obligation to adopt the new panchayati raj system. Further, neither the formation of panchayats nor the holding of elections at regular intervals depend on the will of the state government any more. The provisions of the act can be grouped into two categories:

<ol>
	<li>compulsory: The compulsory (mandatory or obligatory) provisions of the act have to be included in the state laws creating the new panchayati raj system.</li>
	<li>voluntary: The voluntary provisions are included at the discretion of the states. Thus, the states can take local factors like geographical, politico-administrative and others, into consideration while adopting the new panchayati raj system.</li>
</ol>

<h2 id="content-id-1865-0">The salient features of the act</h2>

Gram Sabha: The act provides for a Gram Sabha as the Primary body of the Panchayati Raj system. Anyone who is 18 years old or more and who has the right to vote is a member of the Gram Sabha at the village level. Thus, it is a village assembly consisting of all the registered voters in the area of a panchayat.

Three-Tier System: The act provides for the establishment of a three-tier system (village, intermediate, and district) of panchayati raj in every state. The act brings about uniformity in the structure of panchayati raj throughout the country. However, states with a population less than 20 lakhs may not constitute panchayats at the intermediate level.

Election of Members and Chairpersons: All the members of panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels shall be elected directly by the people. The chairperson of panchayats at the intermediate and district levels shall be elected indirectly by the elected members. The chairperson of a panchayat at the village level is elected as determined by the state government. The chairperson of a panchayat and other members of a panchayat elected directly or indirectly have the right to vote in the meetings of the panchayats.

Reservation of Seats: The act provides for the reservation of seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in every panchayat (at all the three levels). The reservation has to be in the proportion of their population to the total population in the panchayat area. The state legislature should provide for the reservation of offices of chairperson in the panchayat at the village or any other level for the SCs and STs. The act provides for the reservation of not less than one third of the total number of seats for women (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the SCs and STs).

<ul>
	<li>Further, not less than one-third of the total number of offices of chairpersons in the panchayats at each level shall be reserved for women.</li>
	<li>The act also authorizes the legislature of the state to make any reservations for backward classes.</li>
</ul>

Duration of Panchayats: The act provides for a five-year term of office to the panchayat at every level. It can also be dissolved before the completion of its term. The fresh elections to constitute a panchayat shall be completed before the expiry of its duration of five years. In case of dissolution, before the expiry of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution.

Disqualifications: A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as or for being a member of panchayat if he is so disqualified:

<ul>
	<li>Under any law for the time being in force for the purpose of elections to the legislature of the state concerned</li>
	<li>under any law made by the state legislature. No person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than 25 years of age if he has attained the age of 21 years.</li>
</ul>

All questions of disqualifications shall be referred to such authority as the state legislature determines.

State Election Commission: The state election commission is responsible for the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of all elections. It consists of a state election commissioner which is to be appointed by the governor. The governor also determines his conditions of service and tenure of office. He shall not be removed from the office except in the manner and on the grounds prescribed for the removal of a judge of the state high court. The state legislature may make provision with respect to all matters relating to elections to the panchayats.

Powers and Functions: The state legislature may endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self government.

Finance Commission: The governor should constitute a finance commission every five years to review the financial position of the panchayats. It shall make the following recommendations to the Governor:

<ul>
	<li>Distribution between the state and the panchayats of the net proceeds of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees levied by the state.</li>
	<li>The determination of taxes, duties, tolls and fees that may be assigned to the panchayats.</li>
	<li>The grants-in-aid to the panchayats from the consolidated fund of the state.</li>
	<li>The state legislature may provide for the composition of the commission, the required qualifications of its members and the manner of their selection.</li>
</ul>

Audit of Accounts: The state legislature may make provisions with respect to the maintenance of accounts by the panchayats and the auditing of such accounts.

Application to Union Territories: The President may direct that provisions of this Act shall apply to a Union territory subject to such exceptions and modifications as he may specify.

Exempted States and Areas: The act does not apply to the states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram and certain other areas. These areas include:

<ul>
	<li>The scheduled areas and the tribal areas in the states.</li>
	<li>The hill areas of Manipur for which district councils exist.</li>
	<li>Darjeeling district of West Bengal for which Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council exists.</li>
</ul>

However, the Parliament may extend the provisions of this Part to the scheduled areas and tribal areas subject to such exceptions and modifications as it may specify.

In this regard, the Parliament has enacted the “Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act”, 1996, popularly known as the PESA Act or the Extension Act.

Continuance of Existing Laws and Panchayats:

<ul>
	<li>All the state laws relating to panchayats shall continue to be in force until the expiry of one year from the commencement of this act.</li>
	<li>In other words, the states have to adopt the new panchayati raj system based on this act within the maximum period of one year from 24 April, 1993, which was the date of the commencement of this act.</li>
	<li>Majority of states passed the panchayati raj acts in 1993 and 1994 to adopt the new system in accordance with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.</li>
</ul>

Bar to Interference by Courts in Electoral Matters:

<ul>
	<li>The act bars the interference by courts in the electoral matters of panchayats.</li>
	<li>It declares that the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies cannot be questioned in any court.</li>
</ul>

PESA Act of 1996 (Extension Act):

<ul>
	<li>The provisions of Part IX of the constitution relating to the Panchayats are not applicable to the Fifth Schedule areas.</li>
	<li>However, the Parliament may extend these provisions to such areas, subjected to exceptions and modifications as it may specify.</li>
	<li>In this regard, the Parliament has enacted the “Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act”, 1996, popularly known as the PESA Act or the Extension Act.</li>
</ul>

The objectives of the PESA Act are as follows:

<ul>
	<li>To extend the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the panchayats to the scheduled areas with certain modifications.</li>
	<li>To provide self-rule for the tribal population.</li>
	<li>To have village governance with participatory democracy and to make the Gram Sabha the centre of all activities.</li>
	<li>To safeguard and to preserve the traditions and customs of tribal communities.</li>
	<li>To empower panchayats at the appropriate levels with specific powers conducive to tribal requirements.</li>
	<li>To prevent panchayats at the higher level from assuming the powers and authority of panchayats at the lower level of the Gram Sabha.</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="content-id-1865-1">Municipalities and Municipal Corporation</h2>

An urban unit of local government known as municipality is a political division of a state in which a Municipal Corporation has been established to administer general local government for a designated region with a particular population concentration. Municipal corporations were envisioned as local self government organisations in 1726 by Lord Mayo’s Resolution of 1870 on financial decentralisation. Lord Ripon’s Resolution of 1882 Indian village self-government is considered as Magna Carta for local self government. Government of India Act of 1919 – Under the dyarchical system, local self government was transferred to the purview of an Indian minister with appropriate authority. The Government of India Act of 1935 - Local self-government was recognised as a provincial topic as part of the provincial autonomy scheme. In 1992, the P.V. Narsimha Rao administration passed the 74th Amendment Act, which deals with urban local governance. On June 1st, 1993, it came into effect. Part IX-A, which includes provisions from sections 243-P to 243-ZG, was added. The Constitution’s 12th Schedule was been added. It addresses Article 243 W and has 18 functional items in Municipalities. India’s first municipal corporation was located at Madras and later on in Bombay, and Calcutta in 1726. Local government is state subject mentioned in seventh schedule of Indian constitution. The following three ministries are responsible for “urban local government”:

<ul>
	<li>Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs – For States</li>
	<li>Ministry of Defense - For cantonment boards</li>
	<li>For Union Territories: Ministry of Home Affairs</li>
</ul>

Municipal Corporation:

It is a subdivision of a municipality that was created to provide comprehensive local government for a concentrated population in a particular territory. Its members are chosen by popular vote. Its leader is referred to as the mayor or Mahapaur. In case mayor is not present corporation’s affairs will be managed by deputy mayor.

Salient features of Municipal Corporation

<ul>
	<li>There are three parts (organs) of Municipal corporation: the council, standing committees, and commissioner.</li>
	<li>The council is the deliberative body made up primarily of elected and a small number of nominated representatives.</li>
	<li>They are established by an act of state legislatures, and in the case of UTs, by an act of Parliament.</li>
	<li>They pass laws and regulations.</li>
	<li>The mayor of the council is in charge of running its meetings.</li>
	<li>He is chosen by the members individually.</li>
</ul>

Hope you learned well. Stay with us for more.

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