Part IX - The Panchayats
Article
243 Definitions
In this Part, unless the context otherwise
requires,-
(a) "district" means a district in a
State;
(b) "Gram Sabha" means a body consisting of
persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village
comprised within the area of Panchayat at the village level;
(c)
"intermediate level" means a level between the village and
district levels specified by the Governor of a State by public
notification to be the intermediate level for the purposes of this
Part;
(d) "Panchayat" means an institution (by
whatever name called) of self-government constituted under Article
243B ,
for the rural areas;
(e) "Panchayat area" means the
territorial area of a Panchayat;
(f) "population"
means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of
which the relevant figures have been published;
(g) "village"
means a village specified by the Governor by public notification to
be a village for the purposes of this Part
and includes a group
of villages so specified.
Article
243A Gram Sabha
A Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and
perform such functions at the village level as the Legislature of a
State may, by law, provide.
Article
243B Constitution of Panchayats
(1) There shall be
constituted in every State, Panchayats at the village, intermediate
and district levels in accordance with the provisions of this
Part.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in Clause (1), Panchayats at
the intermediate level may not be constituted in a State having a
population not exceeding twenty lakhs.
Article
243C Composition of Panchayats
(1) Subject to the
provisions of this Part, the Legislature of a State may, by law, make
provisions with respect to the composition of Panchayats:
Provided
that the ratio between the population of the territorial area of a
Panchayat at any level and the number of seats in such Panchayat to
be filled [by] election shall, so far as practicable, be the same
throughout the State.
(2) All the seats in a Panchayat shall be
filled by persons chosen by direct election from territorial
constituencies in the Panchayat area and, for this purpose, each
Panchayat area shall be divided into territorial constituencies in
such manner that the ratio between the population of each
constituency and the number of seats allotted to it shall, so far as
practicable, be the same throughout the Panchayat area.
(3) The
Legislature of a State may, by law, provide for the representation
-
(a) of the Chairpersons of the Panchayats at the village
level, in the Panchayats at the intermediate level or, in the case of
a State not having Panchayats at the intermediate level, in the
Panchayats at the district level;
(b) of the Chairpersons of the
Panchayats at the intermediate level, in the Panchayats at the
district level;
(c) of the members of the House of the People
and the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the State representing
constituencies which comprise wholly or partly Panchayat area at a
level other than the village level, in such Panchayat;
(d) of
the members of the Council of States and the members of the
Legislative Council of the State, where they are registered as
electors within -
(i) a Panchayat area at the intermediate
level, in Panchayat at the intermediate level;
(ii) a Panchayat
area at the district level, in Panchayat at the district level.
(4)
The Chairperson of a Panchayat and other members of a Panchayat
whether or not chosen by direct election from territorial
constituencies in the Panchayat area shall have the right to vote in
the meetings of the Panchayats.
(5) The Chairperson of-
(a)
a Panchayat at the village level shall be elected in such manner as
the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide; and
(b) a
Panchayat at the intermediate level or district level shall be
elected by, and from amongst, the elected members thereof.
Article
243D Reservation of seats
(1) Seats shall be reserved
for -
(a) the Scheduled Castes; and
(b) the Scheduled
Tribes,
in every Panchayat and the number of seats so reserved
shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total
number of seats to be filled by direct election in that Panchayat
as
the population of the Scheduled Castes in that Panchayat area or of
the Scheduled Tribes in that Panchayat area bears to the total
population of that area and such seats may be allotted by rotation to
different constituencies in a Panchayat.
(2) Not less than
one-third of the total number of seats reserved under clause (1)
shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, as
the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes.
(3) Not less than
one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging
to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number
of seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayat shall be
reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to
different constituencies in a Panchayat.
(4) The offices of the
Chairpersons in the Panchayats at the village or any other level
shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and
women in such manner as the Legislature of a State may, by law,
provide:
Provided that the number of offices of Chairpersons
reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the
Panchayats at each level in any State shall bear, as nearly as may
be, the same proportion to the total number of such offices in the
Panchayats at each level as the population of the Scheduled Castes in
the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State bears to the total
population of the State:
Provided further that not less than
one-third of the total number of offices of Chairpersons in the
Panchayats at each level shall be reserved for women:
Provided
also that the number of offices reserved under this clause shall be
allotted by rotation to different Panchayats at each level.
(5)
The reservation of seats under Clauses (1) and (2) and the
reservation of office of Chairpersons (other than the reservation for
women) under Clause (4) shall cease to have effect on the expiration
of the period specified in Article 334 .
(6)
Nothing in this Part shall prevent the Legislature of a State from
making any provision for reservation of seats in any Panchayat or
offices of Chairpersons in the Panchayats at any level in favour of
backward class of citizens.
Article
243E Duration of Panchayats, etc.
(1) Every Panchayat,
unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in force,
shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first
meeting and no longer.
(2) No amendment of any law for the time
being in force shall have the effect of causing dissolution of a
Panchayat at any level, which is functioning immediately before such
amendment, till the expiration of its duration specified in Clause
(1).
(3) An election to constitute a Panchayat shall be
completed -
(a) before the expiry of its duration specified in
clause (1);
(b) before the expiration of a period of six months
from the date of its dissolution:
Provided that where the
remainder of the period for which the dissolved Panchayat would have
continued is less than six months, it shall not be necessary to hold
any election under this clause for constituting the Panchayat.
(4)
A Panchayat constituted upon the dissolution of a Panchayat before
the expiration of its duration shall continue only for the remainder
of the period for which the dissolved Panchayat would have continued
under Clause (1) had it not been so dissolved.
Article
243F Disqualifications for membership
(1) A person
shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of
a Panchayat -
(a) if he is so disqualified by or under any law
for the time
being in force for the purposes of elections to the
Legislature of the State concerned:
Provided that no person
shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than twenty-five
years of age, if he has attained the age of twenty-one years;
(b)
if he is so disqualified by or under any law made by the Legislature
of the State.
(2) If any question arises as to whether a member
of a Panchayat has become subject to any of the disqualifications
mentioned in Clause (1), the question shall be referred for the
decision of such authority and in such manner as the Legislature of a
State may, by law, provide.
Article
243G Powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats
Subject
to the provisions of the Constitution, the Legislature of a State
may, by law, endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority and
may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of
self-government and such law may contain provisions for the
devolution of powers and responsibilities upon Panchayats at the
appropriate level; subject to such conditions as may be specified
therein, with respect to -
(a) the preparation of plans for
economic development and social justice;
(b) the implementation
of schemes for economic development and social justice as may be
entrusted to them including those in relation to the matters listed
in the Eleventh Schedule.
Article
243H Powers to impose taxes by, and Funds of, the Panchayats
The
Legislature of a State may, by law, -
(a) authorise a Panchayat
to levy, collect and appropriate such taxes, duties, tolls and fees
in accordance with such procedure and subject to such limits;
(b)
assign to a Panchayat such taxes, duties, tolls and fees levied and
collected by the State Government for such purposes and subject to
such conditions and limits;
(c) provide for making such
grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of the
State; and
(d) provide for constitution of such Funds for
crediting all moneys received, respectively, by or on behalf of the
Panchayats and also for the withdrawal of such moneys therefrom,
as
may be specified in the law.
Article
243I Constitution of Finance Commission to review financial
position
(1) The Governor of a State shall, as soon as
may be within one year from the commencement of the Constitution
(Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992, and thereafter at the expiration
of every fifth year, constitute a Finance Commission to review the
financial position of the Panchayats and to make recommendations to
the Governor as to -
(a) the principles which should govern
-
(i) the distribution between the State and the Panchayats of
the net proceeds of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviable by the
State, which may be divided between them under this Part and the
allocation between the Panchayats at all levels of their respective
shares of such proceeds;
(ii) the determination of the taxes,
duties, tolls and fees which may be assigned to, or appropriated by,
the Panchayats;
(iii) the grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from
the Consolidated Fund of the State;
(b) the measures needed to
improve the financial position of the Panchayats;
(c) any other
matter referred to the Finance Commission by the Governor in the
interests of sound finance of the Panchayats.
(2) The
Legislature of a State may, by law, provide for the composition of
the Commission, the qualifications which shall be requisite for
appointment as members thereof and the
manner in which they
shall be selected.
(3) The Commission shall determine their
procedure and shall have such powers in the performance of their
functions as the Legislature of the State may, by law, confer on
them.
(4) The Governor shall cause every recommendation made by
the Commission under this article together with an explanatory
memorandum as to the action taken thereon to be laid before the
Legislature of the State.
Article
243J Audit of accounts of Panchayats
The Legislature of a
State may, by law, make provisions with respect to the maintenance of
accounts by the Panchayats and the auditing of such accounts.
Article
243K Elections to the Panchayats
(1) The
superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of
electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to the
Panchayats shall be vested in a State Election Commission consisting
of a State Election Commissioner to be appointed by the Governor.
(2)
Subject to the provisions of any law made by the Legislature of a
State, the conditions of service and tenure of office of the State
Election Commissioner shall be such as the Governor may by rule
determine:
Provided that the State Election Commissioner shall
not be removed from his office except in like manner and on the like
grounds as a Judge of a High Court and the conditions of service of
the State Election Commissioner shall not be varied to his
disadvantage after his appointment
(3) The Governor of a State
shall, when so requested by the State Election Commission, make
available to the State Election Commission such staff as may be
necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the State
Election Commission by Clause (1).
(4) Subject to the provisions
of this Constitution, the Legislature of a State may, by law, make
provision with respect to all matters relating to, or in connection
with, elections to the Panchayats.
Article
243L Application to Union territories
The provisions of this
Part shall apply to the Union territories and shall, in their
application to a Union territory, have effect as if the references to
the Governor of a State were references to the Administrator of the
Union territory appointed under Article 239
and references to the Legislature or the Legislative Assembly of a
State were references, in relation to a Union territory having a
Legislative Assembly, to that Legislative Assembly: Provided that the
President may, by public notification direct that the provisions of
this Part shall apply to any Union territory or part thereof subject
to such exceptions and modifications as he may specify in the
notification.
Article
243M Part not to apply to certain areas
(1) Nothing in
this Part shall apply to the Scheduled Areas referred to in Clause
(1), and the tribal areas referred to in Clause (2), of Article
244 .
(2)
Nothing in this Part shall apply to -
(a) the States of
Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram;
(b) the Hill Area in the State
of Manipur for which District Councils exist under any law for the
time being in force.
(3) Nothing in this Part -
(a)
relating to Panchayats at the district level shall apply to the Hill
areas of the District of Darjeeling in the State of West Bengal for
which Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council exists under any law for the
time being in force;
(b) shall be construed to affect the
functions and powers of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council
constituted under such law.
(4) Notwithstanding anything in this
Constitution, -
(a) the Legislature of a State referred to in
Sub-clause (a) of Clause (2) may, by law, extend this Part to the
State, except the areas, if any, referred to in Clause (1), if the
Legislative Assembly of that State passes a resolution to that effect
by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority
of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and
voting;
(b) Parliament may, by law, extend the provisions of
this Part to the Scheduled Areas and the tribal areas referred to in
Clause (1) subject to such exceptions and modifications as may be
specified in such law, and no such law shall be deemed to be an
amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of Article 368 .
Article
243N Continuance of existing laws and Panchayats
Notwithstanding
anything in this Part, any provision of any law relating to
Panchayats in force in a State immediately before the commencement of
the Constitution (Seventy-second Amendment) Act, 1992, which is
inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, shall continue to be
in force until amended or repealed by a competent Legislature or
other competent authority or until the expiration of one year from
such commencement, whichever is earlier:
Provided that all the
Panchayats existing immediately before such commencement shall
continue till the expiration of their duration, unless sooner
dissolved by a resolution passed to that effect by the Legislative
Assembly of that State or, in the case of a State having a
Legislative Council, by each House of the Legislature of that State.
Article
243O Bar to interference by courts in electoral
matters
Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, -
(a)
the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of
constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies, made
or purporting to be made under Article 243K ,
shall not be called in question in any Court;
(b) no election to
any Panchayat shall be called in question except by an election
petition presented to such authority and in such manner as is
provided for by or under any law made by the Legislature of a State.
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