3-Tier Structure of Panchayati Raj

1. Gram Sabha:
The constitution (73rd Amendment) Act gives constitutional status to the Gram
Sabha. Gram Sabha means a body consisting of persons registered in the
electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of Gram Panchayat.
Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and performs such functions at the
village level as the Legislature of a state may by law provide.
Thus, all villagers above the age of 18 years have an inherent right to determine
their own destiny. Gram Sabha is the forum where the marginalized poor can
influence decisions affecting their lives.
There are some basic functions of Gram Sabha:
1. The Gram Sabha has a key role in bringing about transparency in the
functioning of the Gram Panchayats.
2. In ensuring equitable distribution of benefits.
3. In creation of community assets where these are needed and in bringing
about social cohesion.
4. Gram Sabhas shall plan and prioritise development works to be taken up in
the village.
5. Approve the annual plan for the Gram Panchayat.
6. Seek active participation of women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
7. Exercise the right to check the accounts of the Gram Panchayat.
8. Select beneficiaries under various schemes of the Central Government
undertaken for rural development and move towards full control over
management of natural resources.
So the Grain Sabha is the primary body to which the Gram panchayat owes
responsibility. The Gram Panchayat must present budget, accounts of the
previous year and annual administrative report before the Gram Sabha.
2. Gram Panchayat:
It is the first tier of Panchayati Raj system. It is the executive body of Gram
Sabha. The size and term of Gram Panchayat varies from state to state. The
Assam Act provides for the smallest number (I to 15), whereas Andhra Pradesh
and Orissa have provision for larger bodies (15 to 17) and (11 to 25)
respectively.
The term of office is three years in Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Delhi,
four years in Tripura, Andaman and Nicober Islands and Assam, five years in
Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa,
Punjab, Haryana and other states.
Role and Function of Sarpanch:
Every Panchayat elects a President or Sarpanch and a vice- president or
Upsarpanch. In some states the sarpanch is directly elected by the Gram Sabha
either through the show of hands or through secret ballot while in some the
mode of election is indirect. The office of the sarpanch is of great importance.
He is charged with the responsibility of supervision and co-ordination of the
activities of the panchayat He is an ex-officio member of the Panchayat Samiti
(Block level). He participates in its decision making as well as in the election of
the pradhan and of the members of various standing committees.
He acts as the executive head of the panchayat, represents it in the panchayat
samiti as its spokesman and co-ordinates its activities and those of other local
institutions like co-operatives. The panchayat secretary and the village level
worker are the two officers at the panchayat level to assist the sarpanch in
administration.

Role and Function of Panchayat Secretary:

As the funds of the panchayats are meagre, the panchayat secretary Is usually
appointed by the panchayat on part-time basis. He mainly assists the
panchayats in recording decisions, keeping minutes, preparing budget estimates
and reports, does other sundry Jobs like preparing notices, explaining circulars
or legal provision, helping in organising Gram Sabha meetings.
Role and Function of Village Level Worker or Gram Sevak:
(Now Village Development Officer)
The Gram Sevak or village level worker, now the Village Development Officer
(VDO) who is a multi-purpose extension functionary of the development
department. He assists the panchayat in drawing up agricultural production
plans, helps fanners in securing loans for agriculture, arranges the supply of
inputs like seeds and fertilizers and educates farmers about modern agricultural
practices. He serves as the main official link between Panchayats, the Block and
the Panchayat Samiti.
He keeps the panchayat informed of various development programmes and
reports to the Panchayat Samiti about the progress of the schemes and
achievement of targets. He is therefore accountable to the Sarpanch at the
panchayat level on the one hand and to the Vikas Adhikari (Block Development
Officer) BDO and of extension officers on the other hand at the Samiti Level.

Functions of Gram Panchayat:

Panchayats have both obligatory and discretionary functions:

(a) Obligatory function.

(b) Discretionary function.

The experience shows that panchayats have been charged with too many
functions and their resources are not adequate even to perform the mandatory
functions effectively. The Balvantray Mehta Committee did not recommend
provision for statutory committees in the panchayats.

However, there are provisions for the constitution of committees of village

panchayats, in several states. For example, Andhra Pradesh provides for four
committees of village panchayats, Gujarat and Karnataka three obligatory
committees, Madhya Pradesh seven committees, Rajasthan one committee and
UP provides for four committees. In Tamilnadu there is no provision for the
formation of committees of the panchayats.
Panchayats have two-fold functions—civic and developmental. Civic functions
include sanitation, conservancy, water supply, construction and maintenance of
roads, lighting, maintenance of burial grounds, primary education etc. In
addition, the panchayat also acts as the agent of the panchayat samiti in
executing schemes of development at the village level.

2. Panchayat Samiti:
This is the second tier of the Panchayati Raj. The Balvantray Mehta Committee
report envisaged the Samiti as a single representative and vigorous democratic
institution to take charge of all aspects of development in rural areas.

Since the Samitis correspond geographically to the Community Development

blocks, there is a good deal of convergence with regard to their functions. The
Panchayat Samitis perform most of the functions related to planning and
development. Their nomenclature differs from state to state.

The area of operation of the Panchayat Samiti is usually the same as that of the
development block. In some states, however the samiti is at the tehasil level
(which covers a much wider geographical area and more villages) while in some
other states it is at the taluk level. The average population under a Samiti is
about 80,000 but the range is from 35,000 to 1, 00,000.

For the composition of the Samiti, the Balvantray Mehta Committee

recommended a system of indirect elections. The Sarpanchs of the Panchayat
were to be ex-officio members of the samiti, which was also to co-opt some
members from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women.
The MLAs and MPs from the area were to be associate members. However, the
pattern differs from state to state. In most states, the members are not directly
elected and the bulk of the members are ex-officio. The president of the
Panchayat Samiti is the chairman, who is elected by an electoral college
consisting of all members of the panchayat samiti and all the panchas of the
Gram Panchayat falling within the areas. Besides the chairman, the vice-
chairman is also elected.

The chairman convenes and presides over the Panchayat Samiti Meetings. He
guides the panchayats in making plans and carrying out production
programmes. He ensures the Implementation of the decisions and resolutions
of the samiti and its Standing Committees.

He exercises administrative control over the Block Development Officer and his
staff. He is a member of the zilla parishad by virtue of his office as a chairman.
He is the ex-officio chairman of the standing committees of the samiti. The
mode of election of I he chairman is indirect in almost all the states except
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Role of Block Development Officer:

The BDO is the officer in-charge of the development programmes of the
Panchayat Samiti and has the overall responsibility of its administration. He is
assisted by extension officers who are deputed to the Panchayat Samiti from
various government departments. They are specialist in agriculture, animal
husbandry, education etc.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

They work under the administrative control of the BDO, but for technical
matters they are supervised and guided and Instructed by the Departmental
Heads concerned in the districts. Extension officers serve as a link between the
Samiti Staff and the various government departments.

The BDO, in the capacity as the secretary of the Panchayat Samiti, is responsible
for issuing notices of Panchayat Samiti meetings and standing committees,
recording the minutes and circulating the proceedings. As the Chief Executive
Officer of the panchayat samiti, the BDO is responsible for implementing the
resolutions of the samiti and its standing committees.

He prepares the budget of the samiti and places it before the samiti for
approval. He prepares the annual report of the samiti and sends it to the zilla
parishad and the State Government. He receives policy guidance from the
Panchayat Samiti and is responsible to the president of the samiti for his
actions.

To help Panchayat Samitis in carrying out the various functions effectively,

functional committees have been formed at the Panchayat Samiti Level.
However, the number of committees varies from state to state. Rajasthan,
Punjab and Karnataka provide for only three committees at the Samiti Level,
whereas Bihar provides for eight, the largest number of committees.

Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Assam fall in between these two figures.

The Panchayat Samiti is the most powerful body entrusted with developmental
functions like planning for increased agricultural production, animal husbandry
and village industries. Improvement and construction of irrigation wells,
promotion of co-operatives, provision of hostels for scheduled castes.
Scheduled Tribes/Backward Classes, Planting of trees, input supplies and their
distribution, women and child welfare, family planning etc.

3. Zilla Parishad:
At the topmost tier, i.e. the District Level is the Zilla Parishad which is primarily a
coordinating body supervising the activities of the Panchayats and Panchayat
Samiti. There is no uniformity regarding the functions of the Zilla Parishad. In
states like Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Assam mid Orissa, the Zilla Parishad is an
advisory, supervisory and a coordinating body.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

It advises the government on development schemes and distributes the funds

among the samitis.

The Zilla Parishad has no executive function to perform in these states. In Bihar,
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, besides advisory, supervisory and
coordinating functions, it performs several executive functions as well. In
Maharashtra and Gujarat, the Zilla Parisad is the strongest body in the
Panchayati Raj structure and is vested with executive functions.

The nomenclature of the District Level Panchayati Raj body is not the same
everywhere. In states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab,
Rajasthan and UP it is called Zilla Parishad. It is called District Development
Council in Tamil Nadu, Mohukma Parishad in Assam and District Panchayat in
Gujarat.

Functions of Zilla Parishad:

Zilla Parishads are mainly entrusted with coordinating and planning functions
along with a few executive functions. Some of I he important functions of Zilla
Parishad are examination and approval of the budgets of Panchayat Samitis,
distribution of funds between the various Blocks, Co-ordination and
consolidation of Block Plans and general supervision of the activities of
Panchayat Samitis.