25 MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ PANCHAYATI RAJ [Action taken by Government on the recommendations contained in Eighteenth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Estimates] COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2017-18) TWENTY FIFTH REPORT _____________________________________________________________________ (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI TWENTY FIFTH REPORT COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2017-18) (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ [Action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in Eighteenth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Estimates] (Presented to Lok Sabha on 21 December, 2017) LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI December, 2017/ Agrahayana, 1939 (Saka) CONTENTS PAGE COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2017-18) iii INTRODUCTION (vii) CHAPTER I Report 1-15 CHAPTER II Observations/Recommendations which have been 16-20 accepted by Government CHAPTER III Observations/Recommendations which the Committee do 21-24 not desire to pursue in view of Government’s replies CHAPTER IV Observations/Recommendations in respect of which 25-35 replies of Government’s replies have not been accepted by the Committee CHAPTER V Observations/ Recommendations in respect of which final 36 replies of Government are still awaited ANNEXURES (i) Views of States about "Timely Conduct of Election" in 37-40 Panchayats (ii) States/UTs position on Constitution Amendments Bill 41 to Amend Article 243 D (iii) States/ UTs position on Constitution Amendment Bill 42 to Amend Article 243 D (iv) Views of states about rotation of reserved seats in 43-48 PRIs in the light of demographic composition of concerned Panchayat Areas (v) Status of provisions for direct/indirect elections of 49 Chairperson of Gram Panchayat (vi) Views of States about need for direct election to posts 50-56 of Chairpersons of Block and District Panchayats (Para 4 of the Estimates Committee) (vii) Eleventh Schedule of Article 243 G 57 (viii) Status of devolution of departments/ subjects with 58-62 funds, functions and functionaries to the PRIs by States/UTs APPENDICES (i) Minutes of the Eighth Sitting of the Committee on 63-64 Estimates held on 08.08.2017 (ii) Minutes of the Fifteenth Sitting of the Committee on 65-67 Estimates held on 10.10.2017 (iii) Minutes of the Seventeenth Sitting of the Committee 68-69 on Estimates held on 01.11.2017 (iv) Analysis of the Action Taken by the Government 70 on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Eighteenth Report of the Committee on Estimates (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2017-18) Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi – Chairperson Members % 2. Vacant 3. Shri A. Arunmozhithevan 4. Shri George Baker 5. Shri Kalyan Banerjee @ 6. Vacant 7. Shri Dushyant Chautala 8. Shri Ram Tahal Choudhary 9. Col. Sonaram Choudhary 10. Shri Ramen Deka 11. Shri Sanjay Dhotre 12. Shri P.C. Gaddigoudar 13. Shri Prakash B. Hukkeri 14. Smt. Kavitha Kalvakuntala 15. Smt. Raksha Khadse 16. Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal 17. Shri P. Kumar 18. Shri Rajesh Pandey 19. Shri Ravindra Kumar Pandey # 20. Vacant 21. Dr. Bhagirath Prasad 22. Smt. Ranjeet Ranjan 23. Shri Konakalla Narayan Rao 24. Shri Y.V. Subba Reddy 25. Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant 26. Shri Arjun Charan Sethi 27. Shri Janardan Singh Sigriwal 28. Shri Jugal Kishore Sharma @ 29. Vacant 30. Shri Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav _____________________________________________________________________________ % Consequent upon sad demise of Shri Sultan Ahmed, MP on 4th September, 2017 vide Notification No. 21/4(3)/2017/T(B) dated 10 October, 2017. @ Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey ceased to be Member of the Committee consequent upon his induction in the Council of Ministers on 3 September, 2017 vide Notification No. 21/1(3)/2017/T(B) dated 14 December, 2017. # Resignation of Shri Nanabhau Falgunrao Patole from Lok Sabha accepted w.e.f. 14 December, 2017 vide Notification No. 21/1(3)/2017/T(B) dated 14 December, 2017. @ Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat ceased to be Member of the Committee consequent upon his induction in the Council of Ministers on 3 September, 2017 vide notification No. 21/1(3)/2017/T(B) dated 14 December, 2017. SECRETARIAT 1. Smt Sudesh Luthra - Additional Secretary 2. Shri N.C Gupta - Joint Secretary 3. Shri Vipin Kumar - Director 4. Shri R.S Negi - Under Secretary 5. Shri Gurpreet Singh - Sr. Executive Assistant INTRODUCTION I, the Chairperson of Committee on Estimates (2016-17) having been authorized by the Committee to submit the Report on their behalf, do present this Twenty-fifth Report on action taken by the Government on the observations/ recommendations contained in the Eighteenth Report of the Committee (2016-17) on the subject 'Panchayati Raj' pertaining to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. 2. The Eighteenth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) was presented to Lok Sabha on 11 August, 2016. Action Taken Notes on observations/ recommendations from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj were received on 05 April, 2017. The Committee would like to thank the representatives of Niti Aayog who deposed before the Committee in the context of award of grants to Panchayats by Fourteenth Finance Commission. The Draft Report was considered and adopted by the Committee on Estimates (2017-18) at their sitting held on 01 November, 2017. 3. An Analysis of the action taken by the Government on the observations/ recommendations contained in the Eighteenth Report of the Committee is given in Appendix IV. NEW DELHI; DR. MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI, 17 November, 2017 CHAIRPERSON, 26 kartika, 1939 (Saka) ESTIMATES COMMITTEE. CHAPTER I REPORT This Report of the Committee deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Eighteenth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on the subject ‘Panchayati Raj' pertaining to the “Ministry of Panchayati Raj”. 1.2 The Eighteenth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) was presented to Lok Sabha on 11.08.2016. It contained 11 observations/recommendations. Action Taken Notes on all these observations/recommendations were received from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj on 05.04.2017. 1.3 Replies to the observations and recommendations contained in the Report have broadly been categorized as under:- (i) Recommendations/Observations which have been accepted by the Government: Sl. Nos. 9 & 10 (Total - 2) (Chapter-II) (ii) Recommendations/Observations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of Government’s reply: Sl. Nos. 3, 5 & 8 (Total - 3) (Chapter-III) (iii) Recommendations/Observations in respect of which Government’s replies have not been accepted by the Committee: Sl. Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 & 11 (Total - 6) (Chapter-IV) (iv) Recommendations/Observations in respect of which final reply of Government is still awaited: Sl. No. Nil (Chapter-V) 1.4. The Committee desire that response to the comments contained in Chapter I of this Report should be furnished to them expeditiously. 1.5 The Committee will now deal with the action taken by the Government on some of their recommendations. Observation/Recommendation (Para No.1) Timely Conduct of Elections The Committee in their original report had recommended that Panchayati Raj system in India refers to the system of local self governance introduced by the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992. Article 243 E unambiguously stipulates that 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. The Committee, however, noted with deep dismay that despite the constitutional directive, there have been instances in some States where elections to the Panchayats were postponed for decades. For instance, in Jharkhand, elections were held after a long gap of about 32 years. In the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the elections to Panchayat were postponed for a considerable time and in Puduchery, Panchayats elections were yet to be conducted. The Committee were apprised by the Government that in order to ensure timely conduct of elections, Backward Region Grant Fund Scheme funds were not given to the States till the elections were held. However, as the funds were small, the scheme failed to bring in compliance on the part of the States. The Committee felt that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MOPR) has a very important Constitutional obligation to ensure conduct of Panchayat elections within the stipulated period of five years. The ways and means for timely election are to be evolved by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MOPR) in coordination with respective State/ U.T Governments and other concerned authorities. The Committee, therefore strongly recommended that earnest efforts should be made by the MOPR to ensure conduct of periodic elections as per the provision of the 73rd Constitution (Amendment) Act, 1992 to Panchayats at all levels in all the States/UTs so as to strengthen the grass root level democracy throughout the length and breadth of the country. Further, having regard to periodic complaints, the Committee recommended that the Government need to examine the desirability of laying down certain essential qualifications for various posts in the lowest rung of democracy so that elected functionaries discharge their duties efficiently, effectively and independently. 1.7 The Ministry in their Action Taken reply has stated that elections to Panchayats have been held in all the States/UTs covered under Part IX, except UT of Puducherry. In the UT of Puducherry where the elections have been due since July 2011 as the matter is sub judice. Presently, it is pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Similarly, in Tamilnadu , the Panchayat Elections were due in November, 2016, and in September, 2016 notification for next election was also issued by the State Election Commission. However, this notification has been challenged in the High Court. The matter is still sub-judice due to which the Panchayat Election were still not held. As regards prescribing minimum qualifications for Elected Representatives (ERs), the States have been empowered to prescribe the same under Article 243F(b).