Bombay Village Panchayat Act

[Liisa Komara]

TheHigh Court of Bombay: passed a judgement on 06 June 2023. In the case of NIKHIL UTTAM UNDRE Vs STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS THE SECRETARY AND ORS IN WRIT PETITION NO. 12614 OF 2022 which was passed by a single bench comprising of HONOURABLE SHRI JUSTICE N. J. JAMADAR, a village panchayat member from Manjri (Khurd), Tal. Haveli, District Pune found himself facing disqualification under section 14(1)(j-3) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1959. The disqualification was imposed based on allegations of encroachment on government land. The legality, propriety, and correctness of the disqualification were challenged through a writ petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. This blog post aims to provide an overview and analysis of the key arguments presented by the parties involved in the case, along with relevant case laws.

The petitioner, who had been elected as a member of the village panchayat in 2001, was accused of encroaching on Gaothan land belonging to the village panchayat. The dispute application was filed by a respondent, alleging that the petitioner and his family members had committed unauthorized construction and encroachment. The District Collector initially dismissed the application, stating that the complainant had failed to prove the encroachment. However, on appeal, the Additional Divisional Commissioner overturned the decision, holding that the petitioner had indeed incurred disqualification.

The Division Bench of the High Court, in the case of Devidas s/o. Matiramji Surwade vs. Additional Commissioner, Amaravati (2003) 2 Mh.L.J. 318, held that disqualification extends to legal heirs, agents, assignees, or transferees of the person who committed the encroachment. The Supreme Court later affirmed this interpretation in the Janabai case.

In this case, the disqualification of the petitioner as a village panchayat member based on allegations of encroachment on government land has been challenged through a writ petition. The arguments put forth by both parties revolve around the sufficiency of evidence and the interpretation of relevant legal provisions. It remains to be seen how the Court will weigh the evidence and apply the law to arrive at a just decision.

Established in various states of India, the Panchayat Raj system has three tiers: Zila Parishad, at the district level; Panchayat Samiti, at the block level; and Gram Panchayat, at the village level. Rajasthan was the first state to establish Gram Panchayat, Bagdari Village, Nagaur District being the first village where Gram Panchayat was established, on 2 October 1959.[4]

In 1992, the institution of Gram Panchayat was modified in order to deepen democracy. The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution re-introduced panchayats as the institutions of local self-governance, with a basic structure for operations at three administrative levels; villages, groups of villages and districts.[5]

The Gram Panchayat is divided into wards and each ward is represented by a Ward Member or Commissioner, also referred to as a Panch or Panchayat Member, who is directly elected by the villagers.[7] The Panchayat is chaired by the president of the village, known as a Sarpanch.[8] The term of the elected representatives is five years. The Secretary of the Panchayat is a non-elected representative, appointed by the state government, to oversee Panchayat activities.[9]

Gram Panchayat elections in India occur every five years. The village is divided into wards, and people in each ward vote for their representative. These elected members, along with the president (sarpanch) and vice president, form the Gram Panchayat. The president (sarpanch) and vice president (upa-sarpanch) in a gram Panchayat are elected from among the elected ward members. the term of office for elected members in a Gram Panchayat, including the Sarpanch and Upa-Sarpanch, is typically five years. All people over the age of 18 who are residents of the territory of that village's Gram panchayat can vote.[11][12]

For women's empowerment and to encourage participation of women in the democratic process, the government of India has set some restrictions on Gram panchayat elections, reserving one-third of the seats for women, as well as reserving seats for scheduled castes and tribes.[12]

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The authors would like to thank Narendra Singh Bais for drawing their attention to the issues discussed in this article and Keshav Gurnule of Srishti for supplying the information on Kurkheda taluka.

Although the term gram sabha was known to Indians for hundreds of years, it received due recognition only after the ratification of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution. Prior to that, the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958, which was one of the pioneering acts in this regard, had defined gram sabha as a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to village comprised within the area of panchayat.1 The 73rd Amendment Act in 1992 retained this definition when it stated that the 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. As panchayats is a state subject, the respective state governments were asked to amend their state laws in the light of the 73rd Amendment. Most of the state governments have retained the same definition.

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LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT IN THE DISTRICT is conducted by various statutory bodies such as the municipalities, the Zilla Parishad, the panchayat samitis and the village panchayats. These institutions have progressed in three directions. Firstly, from partially elected or nominated bodies, they have now become fully elective. Secondly, their franchise has also gone on widening from restricted franchise to the universal adult franchise. Thirdly, wider and wider powers have been gradually conferred on them.

The Divisional Commissioner exercises control and authority over all institutions of Local Self-Government under the Bombay Village Sanitation Act (I of 1889), the Bombay District Vaccination Act, the Hyderabad District Municipalities Act, 1956; the Bombay Local Fund Audit Act, 1930; the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958, the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 and various other Government orders.

The Divisional Commissioner co-ordinates the work of the heads of different departments of Government. The Chief Executive Officers of the Zilla Parishads are responsible to the respective Divisional Commissioners in matters of Zilla Parishad administration. The Divisional Commissioner plays a vital role not only in accelerating the tempo of development but also in guiding or even inducing the Zilla Parishads, and the Panchayat Samitis to take up new schemes or expand the scope of existing ones with a view to achieving the plan targets. The Divisional Commissioner exerts himself constantly with a view to promoting good relations between the elected representatives of the people and the officers of zilla parishads and panchayat samitis. He keeps careful vigilance and avoids development of unsavoury situation by timely and tactful intervention and guidance.

Like the Greek City States, the villages in ancient India were always autonomous units. The characteristic feature of administration in ancient India was the prevalence of freedom and autonomy in governing the village institutions. In course of time due to foreign invasions and depredations, the villages lost their autonomy as more power came to be vested and concentrated in the sovereign kings.

During the British Administration, some attempts were made to revive the Local Self-Government Institutions in India by giving the people representations in such local bodies. As a result of this, subsequently, municipalities, district school boards, janpad-sabhas and village panchayats were established. Thus, it was possible for the British Government to regenerate confidence among the masses inhabiting the rural areas.

Vidarbha organised its gram panchayats and nyaya panchayats in 1946, while in Marathwada region the village panchayats functioned in every village with a population of 5,000 and above from 1941. After the reorganisation of the erstwhile State of Bombay, the Village Panchayats Act was passed in 1958, for the whole State. By this Act, a Village Panchayat Mandal was set up for every district. Not only village panchayats but gat-nyaya panchayats were also organised for groups of five or more than five village panchayats.

In course of time, the experience gained indicated that the progress of rural development was not commensurate with the expectations of the Government. Various developmental activities introduced in the plan periods could not achieve a commendable amount of success owing to non-participation of the villagers in the implementation of such developmental schemes. On the other hand, a trend was noticed among the masses for undertaking more developmental activities. The Central Government came to the conclusion that it was necessary for the Government to investigate the causes behind such a state of affairs and therefore it appointed a Committee called : The Balwantrai Mehta Committee.

The Balwantrai Mehta Committee visited all the developmental activities, met hundreds of Government officers and social workers in the country, interviewed them and submitted its report to the Government. The Committee pointed out mainly, among other findings, that the Government could not succeed in appealing and attracting the leadership of the masses in participating in the community development and national developmental schemes. Institutions of the type of the Local Self-Government had not taken any deep interest in participating in such developmental schemes and had not shown any initiative for such work. The part played by the village panchayats in such works was also not very encouraging. There was very often interference from the Government in the affairs of the working of the local bodies. The Committee came to the conclusion that the urgent necessity of the day, to remedy the abovementioned state of affairs, was the decentralisation of power and responsibility at the lower level. The committee, therefore, suggested that the responsibility for such regional and local development work should be assigned to such local institutions at the district level with the Government accepting the role of guiding, supervising and planning from a higher level, making available the required finances.

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