Date:26/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/26/stories/2007062661000400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Amendment to PR Act: Gram panchayats to close on June 29

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: All the 5,652 gram panchayats in Karnataka will close on June 29 in protest against the amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act 1993, which was passed on April 21 by both Houses of the State Legislature. Through this amendment, the Government is now empowered to take over the role of the panchayats in selecting beneficiaries for development programmes at the village level.

The decision to refrain from working is part of the programme of the Panchayati Raj Hakkottaya Andolana, a State-wide movement launched on May 16 by several federations of elected members of panchayats, organisations, institutions and individuals committed to decentralisation of the lowest rung of democracy. The organisations spearheading the campaign are The Concerned for Working Children, while Mahila Samakhya Karnataka, Singamma Srinivasan Foundation, The Hunger Project and Grama Swaraj Vedike are supporting the campaign. More than 80 gram panchayat federations from 22 districts have joined the campaign.

Director of CWC Nandana Reddy told presspersons here on Monday that the recent amendment to the Act was ultra vires of the Constitution. “It blatantly denies the right of the gram sabhas and gram panchayats to identify beneficiaries for government programmes,” she said.

The Amendment inserts provisos to Section 3(3)(b) and 3A(3)(c), stating that if the gram panchayat failed to discharge its duties in respect of housing schemes or programmes funded by the government, then a committee headed by the Member of the Legislative Assembly of the constituency shall select the beneficiaries from the list prepared by the gram panchayat.

Apart from closing the panchayats on June 29, the panchayat members will converge on Bangalore on July 4, on the eve of the Legislature session, and meet the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Panchayati Raj Minister, the Legislative Assembly Speaker and the Chairman of the Legislative Council, seeking withdrawal of the amendment.