S. No.

Reference to Para No. of the Report

Summary of recommendations

1.

2.8

The Government should divest itself completely of certain duties and responsibilities and devolve them to a body which will have the entire charge of all development work within its jurisdiction, reserving to itself only the functions of guidance, supervision and higher planning.

2.

2.12

At the block level, an elected self-governing institution should be set up with its jurisdiction co-existensive with a development block.

3.

2.15

The panchayat samiti should be constituted by indirect elections from the village panchayats.

4.

2.16

Each of the municipalities lying as enclaves within the jurisdiction of a block should elect from amongst its own members one person as a member of the panchayat samiti. Secondly, State Government may convert predominantly rural municipalities into Panchayats.

5.

2.17

and

2.18

Where the extent and importance of the local cooperative organisations in a block and justify, a number of seats equal to 10% of the number of elected seats be filled by the representatives of directors of co-operatives either by co-option or by election. Secondly, the samiti should have a life of 5 years and it should come into being sometime in the third year of the five-Year Plan period.

6.

2.19

and

2.20

The functions of the panchayat samiti should cover the development of and agriculture in all its aspects, improvement of cattle, promotion of local industries, public health, welfare work, administration of primary schools and collection and maintenance of statistics. It should also act as an agent of the State Government in executing special schemes of development entrusted to it. Other functions should be transferred to the panchayat samitis only when they have started functioning as effecient democratic institutions.

7.

2.21

The following sources of income be assigned to the panchayat samiti:

i. Percentage of land revenue collected within the block

ii. Cess on land revenue, etc.

iii. Tax on professions, etc.

iv. Surcharge of duty on transfer of immovable property.

v. Rent and profit accruing from property,

vi. Net proceeds of tolls and leases.

vii. Pilgrim tax, tax on entertainment, primary education cess, proceeds from fairs and markets.

viii. Share of motor vehicle tax.

ix. Voluntary public contributions.

x. Grants made by the Government.

8.

2.21

The State Government should give to these samitis adequate grants- in-aid conditionally or unconditionally or on a matching basis, with due regard to economically backward areas.

9.

2.22

All Central and State funds spent in a block area should invariably be assigned to the panchayat samiti to be spent by it directly or indirectly excepting when the samiti recommends direct assistance to an institution.

10.

2.25

The technical officers of the samiti should be under the technical control of the corresponding district level officers but under the administrative and operational control of its chief administrative officer.

11.

2.25

The annual budget of the samiti should be approved by the zila parishad.

12.

2.26

A certain amount of control should inevitably be retained by the Government, e.g., the power of superseding a panchayat samiti in public interest.

13.

2.28

The constitution of the panchayat should be purely on an elective basis with the provision for the co-option of two women members and one member each from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. No other special groups need be given special representation.

14.

2.29

Main resources of income of the panchayat will be property or house tax, tax on markets and vehicles, octroi or terminal tax, conservancy tax, water and lighting rate, income from cattle ponds, grants from the panchayat samiti and fees charged from the registration of animals sold, etc.

15.

2.30

The village panchayats should be used as the agency for the collection of land revenue and be paid a commission. For this purpose the panchayat may be graded on the basis of their performance in the administrative and development field, and only those which satisfy a certain basic minimum efficiency will be invested with this power.

16.

2.30

The village panchayats should be entitled to receive from the panchayat samiti a statutorily prescribed share, up to three- fourths of the net land revenue assigned to the latter.

17.

2.31

Local resources now raised by the village panchayats and spent on the maintenance of watch and ward staff should, in future, be used for development purposes.

18.

2.32

Legislation should provide that a person who has not paid his taxes in penultimate year should be debarred from exercising his franchise in the next panchayat election and that a panchayat member should automatically cease to be such if his tax is in arrears for more than six months.

19.

2.33

The budget of the village panchayat will be subject to scrutiny and approval of the panchayat samiti, chief officer of which will exercise the same power in regard to the village panchayat as the collector will in regard to the Panchayat samiti. No village panchayat should, however, be superseded except by the State Government who will do so only on the recommendation of the zila parishad.

20.

2.34

The compulsory duties of the village panchayats should among other provisions of water supply, sanitation, lighting, maintenance of roads, land management, collection and maintenance of records and other statistics and the welfare of backward classes. It will also act as an agent of the panchayat samiti in executing any scheme entrusted to it.

21.

2.28

The judicial panchayat may have much larger jurisdiction than even a Gram Sewak's circle, and out of the panel suggested by village panchayats the subdivisional or district magistrate may select persons to form judicial panchayats.

22.

2.38

To ensure necessary coordination between the panchayat samitis, a zila parishad should be constituted consisting of the presidents of these samitis, M.L.As and M. Ps representing the area and the district level officers. The collector will be its chairman and one of his officers will act as secretary.

23.

2.46

If this experiment of democratic decentralisation is to yield maximum results, it is necessary that all the three tiers of the scheme, viz., village panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad should be started at the same time and operated simultaneously in the whole district.

24.

2.47

Persons elected or aspiring to be elected to local bodies should be provided with some training in administrative matters so that they are equipped with a certain minimum of knowledge of this machinery which is growing more and more complex.

25.

2.48

Some of the States consider it advisable to develop power to a local body at the district level. While the block is the optimum unit for the purpose, similar devolution to a district body may take place instead provided that

(a) such a district body is fully empowered by Statute on the same lines as the panchayat samiti, though on a correspondingly larger scale;

(b) the appropriate funds, powers of taxation, requisite field staff, and supervisory staff at the district head quarters are made available on the same lines as for the panchayat samiti;

(c) in the blocks selected for development programme, panchayat samitis are constituted to carry out as agents of the district body all other development activities proposed for that area by the district body, and all funds meant to be spent in the block are transferred to the panchayat samitis;

(d) the district body operate directly only in non panchayat samiti areas or in matters of inter-block and district level activities and institutions; and

(e) the district body is so constituted on a purely elected basis that the former does not become too large to be effective as an instrument for rural development.

(f) If feasible, similar arrangements can also be worked out in the alternative to devolve power to a body with a sub-division of the district for its jurisdiction.