Ashok Mehta Committee - Lecture notes 1 PDF

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Summary

At this juncture, the notion and practise of panchayati raj were transformed by Ashok Mehta and his panel. Chairman: Ashoka Mehto, who was appointed in December 1977 as the head of the Janata Government's Panchayati Raj institutions committee. When the committee's report was published in August of t...

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ASHOK MEHTA COMMITTEE At this juncture, the notion and practise of panchayati raj were transformed by Ashok Mehta and his panel. Chairman: Ashoka Mehto, who was appointed in December 1977 as the head of the Janata Government's Panchayati Raj institutions committee. When the committee's report was published in August of that year, it contained 132 recommendations for improving the country's ailing Panchayati Raj system. The Indian states ofKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal have passed new legislation in response to this study. The state's politics, on the other hand, prevented the establishment of its own political dynamics. The main recommendations of the committee are: The three-tier Panchayati Raj system should be replaced by a two-tier structure: a district-level Zilla Parishad and a Mandal Panchayat, which consists of a group of villages with a population of 15000 to 20000 people. Below the state level, a district should be the first point of decentralisation under public supervision. The executive body, the Zila Parishad, should be in charge of district-level planning. Political parties should be allowed to participate in Panchayat elections at all levels. To mobilise their own financial resources, Panchayat Raj organisations should have obligatory taxing powers. A regular social audit should be conducted by a district-level agency and a legislative committee to ensure that money designated for disadvantaged social and economic groups are being spent on them.

The Panchayat Raj institutions should not be supplanted by the state government. If an important supersession occurs, an election must be held within six months of the supersession date. Nyaya Panchayats should be treated differently than development Panchayats. A qualified judge should preside over them. The Panchayati Raj elections should be organised and conducted by the state's Chief Electoral Officer in consultation with the Chief Election Commissioner. The Zila Parishad's development functions should be transferred to it, and all development workers should report to it. Volunteer organisations should play a major role in mobilising public support for Panchayati Raj. To oversee the business of the Panchayati Raj institutions, a minister for Panchayati Raj should be nominated to the state council of ministers. Seats for SCs and Sts should be assigned according to their population. The Ashok Mehta Committee recommendations were not implemented once the Janata administration fell. A few states, including Karnataka, have enacted new legislation based on the Committee's recommendations. The relevance of panchayats as self-governing units was disregarded by both committees. According to conventional wisdom, a realistic legislative framework is required to ensure the practical implementation of democratic values. It is hard to imagine societal transformation in a particular society without a pragmatic and wise law. After reviewing the history of India's panchayat raj system, one could argue that this is also true of democratic decentralisation in India. Until 1993, there was no constitutional foundation for self-

government at the state level. Despite the fact that state governments were not required to construct full-fledged panchayati raj in the absence of a constitutional requirement, some states have gone too far in devolving authority to the panchayats. It should be remembered that the Ashok Mehta committee was the first to make an official suggestion for putting panchayati raj in the constitution, based on its belief that panchayats should be viewed as political institutions rather than merely developmental ones. This committee also supported political parties' use of their symbols in panchayat elections. 73RD AND 74TH AMENDMENT ACT, 1992 Almost all political parties, both directly and indirectly, expressed support for a constitutional reform aimed at strengthening Panchayats and local administration during the 1990s period. Due to these circumstances, Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, introduced the 64th Amendment bill on local administration in the Parliament, on the 15th of May, 1989, but it was unable to gain the support it needed at the time. In September 1990, a second attempt was made to pass the legislation through the Parliament. The bill, on the other hand, was never even brought up for discussion. Two new constitutional amendment bills on local government were filed by the Congress government under the leadership of P. V. Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister, in September 1991, and both were passed. The 72nd (Panchayats) and 73rd (Naparpalikas) Schedules of the Constitution were referred to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament. The two laws were passed by the Lok Sabha on December 22, 1992, and the Rajya Sabha passed them the following day, on December 23. By the time the two laws were passed by the parliament, they had moved up to the 73rd and 74th positions in the list. The Constitution (Seventy–third Amendment) Act 1992 and the Constitution (Seventy–fourth Amendment) Act 1992 came into effect on April 24, 1993, and the Constitution (Seventy– fourth Amendment) Act 1992 came into effect on June 1, 1993, respectively.

As previously said, 1992 was a watershed year in the history of Panchayats in India, marking the beginning of a new era. The Indian Parliament passed the 73rd amendment to the Constitution (Amendment to Article 243), which recognised Panchayats to be the primary institutions of self-government. (The 74th amendment, which was passed at the same time, pertains to urban local governments.) The following are some of the most significant provisions of the 73rd amendment: In states with more than 25 lakh people, there should be three levels of Panchayats (District Panchayats, Block Panchayats, also known as intermediate Panchayats, and Village or Gram Panchayats). States having a population of less than this threshold will have only two tiers, with the intermediary layer being omitted. A declaration declaring panchayats to be institutions of self-government (signifying that the status of Panchayats is same in their respective areas, as that of the Union Government at the national and State Governments at the state level). Agriculture, land reform, minor irrigation, fisheries, cottage and small-scale enterprises, rural communication, potable water, poverty alleviation programmes, and other subjects were among the 29 disciplines for which states were compelled to delegate authority to the Panchayats. Panchayats were tasked with developing and implementing plans for economic development and social justice in their respective areas. In order to evaluate the Panchayats' share of the state's financial resources on an entitlement basis, states were required to establish a State Finance Commission every five years and report to the UN General Assembly (just as the Central Finance Commission determines how resources of the Central government should be shared between the union and state governments). It is essential that women and Scheduled Castes are represented in equal numbers on Panchayat and village council levels. As with other members of these organisations, such reservations should be extended to their chairs and vice chairs, as well as their staff.

In each state, there will be a State Election Commission, which will be responsible for conducting elections for local bodies once every five years....