New Act for PR bodies mooted at marathon cabinet meeting

HYDERABAD: The state government will soon come out with a new Act for the effective functioning of Panchayat Raj bodies in the state. A Bill to this effect will be introduced in the forthcoming session of State Legislative Assembly. A new Act will also be in place for Municipalities in the state.
The seven-and-half hour marathon State Cabinet meeting held on Monday approved bringing in a new legislation for PR bodies.

The State Cabinet also decided to conduct elections to the local bodies as per the Constitution. The Cabinet resolved that the newly-elected village pachayats would function as per the new Act to be enacted by the state government. Experts in Panchayat Raj affairs and legal luminaries will prepare the new State Panchayat Raj Act.

The Girijan tandas, tribal hamlets, Gondu gudems and Chencu villages too would be made village panchayats soon. The hamlets near to a major village would also be upgraded as panchayats.
Apart from the Central grants to Panchayats, the state was mainly focusing on tax collections by Panchayats, donations from public and funds from corporate social responsibility and other sources.

State to act against erring Panchayats

In the proposed Act, the state government would have powers to take action against the Panchayats which failed to fulfil their responsibilities. Inclusion of this provision and introducing a Bill for the new Act in the Legislative Assembly was proposed by CM K Chandrasekhar Rao at the meeting. The Cabinet also decided to introduce a new Municipal Act to change the face of urban local bodies. By bringing these two Acts, the state is expecting qualitative changes in rural and urban areas. The state issued around eight Ordinances in the last six months. All of them will be replaced by Bills.