In Maharashtra, Gram Panchayats are governed by Section 5 of the Bombay Gram Panchayat Act, 1958. The Sarpanch, Upsarpanch and Gram Sevak manage the Panchayat. There are 28,813 Gram Panchayats in Maharashtra. 50% of seats in the panchayat are for women, seats are reserved in proportion to the population for SCs and STs and 27% of seats are reserved for the OBC category. To be a member, a person’s name must be in the electoral roll, he must be 21 years old and he should be a gram sabha member. The panchayat has a five-year term and re-elections are to be done within 6 months of the dissolution of the Panchayat. The Sarpanch is the executive head, elected from amongst the villagers. A reservation draw is made at the collectors’ office for the open position of a sub sarpanch. The Gram Sevak is selected by the Zilla Parishad and appointed by the Chief Executive Officer. The Gram Sevak’s tasks include collecting taxes, registrar of births and deaths, Acting Public Information office, and a lot more. The income of the panchayat comes from taxing houses and empty lots in a limited capacity, business tax, travel tax, tax on the purchase of animals, subsidy from the state government in proportion to land revenue, and grants from zila parishad for development work. Functions of Gram Panchayat include the construction and repair of village roads, lighting, and much more. The Gram Panchayat has 12 meetings, one each month which can only be canceled on account of natural calamity. Section 7A of the Mumbai Gram Panchayat Act established a Gram Sabha for each village. Know roles and responsibilities of Gram Panchayat on the link below –
Gram Panchayat: The Key to Grassroot Democracy
