Salient Features Of The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act
The main features of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act are as follows:
In all the states there shall be a Gram Sabha in each village comprising all the villages to which the panchayat will be accountable. All states will have a three-tier Panchayati raj system (except the states whose population is less than 20,00,000), Panchayats at the village, intermediate and district level. All the members of the village panchayats, intermediate panchayats and district panchayats shall be chosen by direct election and the method of election of the chairperson of the village panchayat will be decided by the state government, while chairperson of intermediate panchayats and district panchayats shall be elected indirectly by the members from amongst the elected members only.
The legislature of a state, by law, will provide the representation by the chairperson of the village panchayats in the Panchayat at the intermediate level and the chairperson of the Panchayats at the intermediate level, in the panchayat at the district level and to MPs and MLAs whose constituencies fall in the areas of intermediate level and district level Panchayats.
All the directly elected members, chairpersons and MPs & MLAs, members of the panchayat shall have the right to vote in the meetings of the panchayats. There shall be mandatory periodic elections every five years under the supervision, direction and control of the State Election Commission / State Election Commissioner and were superseded in mid-term, a mid-term election within six months.
One-third seats of the total seats in Panchayati raj bodies will be reserved for women. Reservation of seats for SC/ST will be in proportion to their population in the total population. The reserved seats will rotate in different constituencies in a panchayat. Further, the offices of the chairpersons in the panchayats shall be reserved for SC and ST in proportion to their population in the states and one-third of such office shall be reserved for women by rotation in different panchayats. Panchayati raj bodies will receive finance from the state government in the form of grants. These can also earn by imposing taxes, tolls and fees on the commodities falling under their purview. Every five years State Finance Commission will review the financial position of panchayats and recommend principles governing the distribution of taxes and grants-in-aid to Panchayati raj bodies. The state legislature shall make laws for the maintenance of accounts by the panchayats and laws related to the audit of such accounts. Panchayati raj bodies will prepare plans for economic development, social justice and social welfare and subjects enumerated in the eleventh schedule relating to agriculture, rural housing, drinking water, roads, waterways, rural electrification, education, health, etc.
After the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 significant reorganisation of the Panchayati raj system has taken place. Panchayati raj system has been statutorily provided fully or partially in 22 out of 25 states and in 6 out of 7 union territories. In the remaining three states and one union territory, there are traditional tribal councils.
The present Panchayati raj system is certainly a step forward in the direction of decentralisation of powers to the people at the grassroots level. If implemented sincerely, the Panchayati raj system will definitely succeed.
Let us now look into Urban Local Government.