The Gazetteers Department

The village panchayats are the last organisations but not the least in importance in the ladder of Government machinery and administration. From the early times, the villages in India formed units which were self-sufficient and administered by the grampanchayats. Their organisation was such as could withstand the onslaughts of Muslim and other foreign invasions. Centralization of power that emerged during the British regime resulted into political, social and economic disruption of the rural areas. The freedom struggle that started in the country during the 20th century forced the alien power to grant at least the restricted local government so as to assuage the feeling of popular discontent. Thus an Act was passed in 1915, which was implemented in 1920 by establishing a few village panchayats in the district, their supervision having been entrusted to the District Councils then in existence.

The Village Panchayats Act of 1946 was passed which envisaged the establishment of village panchayats in villages, the population of which was above 1,000, above 500 and below 500 in three stages. Within one year, the phased programme was completed except a few villages in the last stage.

Under the Act, panchayats with membership of between 5 and 15 were established on the basis of adult franchise. They were to elect a sarpanch and a upsarpanch from amongst themselves The revenue patil of the village was to be an ex-officio member of the panchayat.

The Act divided the duties of the village panchayats into obligatory and optional. The obligatory duties of the village panchayats included sanitary and health measures, construction and repairs of roads, maintenance of births and deaths registers, provision of water-supply, and undertaking such other works meant for public convenience while the optional duties invoked construction and maintenance of dharmashadas, finding ways and means for development of agriculture, co-operation, veterinary services, etc. The gram panchayats were to undertake the optional functions provided their funds permitted them to do so.

The incomes of the village panchayats were derived from various sources such as cesses, house tax, sanitary tax, and other taxes as also grants from Janapad Sabhas and the Government.

A few gram panchayats were entrusted with the performance of judicial functions. They were authorised to impose fine up to Rs. 20 and conduct civil suits of the value of not more than Rs. 100. The appeals upon the decisions of the gram panchayats were heard by the District and Sessions Judge. The panchayats were authorised to appoint the secretaries and the other necessary staff.

After the reorganisation of States, the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958, was made applicable to the district. Under this Act, which was put into force in the district from June 1, 1959, women were represented in the panchayats. The membership of revenue patils who were ex-officio members of the panchayats was abrogated. The division of the duties of village panchayats as obligatory and optional was annuled and the panchayats were made responsible for the all round development of villages. This Act has given wide powers to village panchayats.

The special features of the new Act are.—

(a) reservation of two scats for women in every village Panchayat

(b) constitution of grain sabhas of all adult residents of the village;

(c) establishment of district village panchayat mandal for every district (now defunct since the formation of the Zilla Parishad);

(d) appointment of the secretary of a village panchayat as a full-fledged Government servant;

(e) training of the village panchayat secretary to be undertaken at its own cost;

(f) making of the work of collection of land revenue and maintenance of land records, a responsibility of village panchayat;

(g) payments to village panchayats of grants-in-aid of not less than 25 per cent of the land revenue collected in villages, and

(h) constitution of group nyaya panchayats for five or more Villages with fairly wide judicial powers, both civil and criminal.

A District Village Panchayat Officer was appointed to control the administration of village panchayats in the district. He assists the Collector in his functions and duties in respect of administration of village panchayats with the aid of District Auditor, five Sub-Auditors and other necessary staff. Besides, two Social Welfare Inspectors were allotted to the district to work as supervisory staff.

With the formation of the Zilla Parishad the district panchayat mandals were abolished and the Village Panchayat Officer now works with the Zilla Parishad. The control of the village panchayats now vests in the Zilla Parishad and is exercised through the Panchayat Samitis.

All the villages in the district are covered by 919 village panchayats of which 476 are independent village panchayats, while the remaining 443 are group village panchayats. The 147 nyaya panchayats in the district established under the Central Provinces and Berar Act of 1946 now function under the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958.

There were in all 7,415 members of these 919 gram panchayats. Out of these, 4,815 belonged to the category of general seats, 1,778 to women and 358 to the scheduled castes. The remaining 464 were meant for associate members.

Since the inception of the Zilla Parishad and the Panchayat Samitis, the sources of the income of the village panchayats have increased. The income and expenditure figures of all the village panchayats during the period 1961-62 stood at Rs. 23,31,000 and Rs. 16,49,000, respectively, while the same were Rs. 60,28,433 and Rs. 52,95.339, respectively in the year 1964-65[During 1973-74 the income and expenditure of 945 village panchayats was Rs. 10,356,000 and Rs. 9,652,000, respectively.]

On the basis of analysis of income and expenditure during 1961-62 it is observed that 65.72 per cent of the total income was derived from the government grants as against 57 per cent during 1964-65. As regards taxes and rates their percentage to total income in 1961-62 was 42.86, while it was only 13 in 1964-65. In 1961-62 all the 860 village panchayats imposed taxes on houses and properties. The break-up of the total expenditure of all the village panchayats in the district for the year 1961-62 is as follows: 18.31 per cent on administration, 11.83 on health and sanitation and the remaining 66.65 on other miscellaneous items. These items include improvement of village roads, construction of new drinking water wells, school buildings etc. In 1964-65 52 per cent of the total expenditure was incurred on public works while administration accounted for about 10 per cent.

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