The Kerala Panchayat Raj (Constitution of Standing Committees and its Procedures and Powers) Rules, 1995

1. Short title and commencement.—

1. These rules may be called the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Constitution of Standing Committees and its Procedures and Powers) Rules, 1995.
2. They shall come into force at once.

2. Definitions, —In these rule, unless-the context otherwise requires, —

• (a} 'Act' means the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994);
• (b) 'Section' means a section of the Act;
• (c) 'Form' means a form appended to these rules;
• (d) Words an4 expressions used and not defined, in these rules, but defined in the Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.

ELECTION OF MEMBERS AND CHAIRMAN OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE

3. Number of members in the Standing Committee.—The Panchayat shall fix the number of members in a Standing Committee in accordance with sub-sections (2) and (4) of section 162.

4. Meeting for the election of Standing Committees.—

1.  The President shall, as soon as possible, alter the constitution or reconstitution of a new Panchayat, conduct election to the Standing Committee or Standing Committees to be .constituted under section 162, in a meeting of the elected members of the Panchayat convened for this purpose.
2. The President or in his absence the Vice President or in the absence of both of them a member chosen from among the members present in the meeting shall preside over the election meeting.
   Provided that no member who intend to contest as a candidates in the election shall preside over the said meeting.

5. Qualification of candidate.-

1. Any elected member of the Panchayat may contest as a candidate in the election to the Standing Committee.
   Provided that for the place reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or Women, no person other than a person belonging to the Schedule Castes or Schedule Tribes or Women , as the case may be, shall contest as a candidate.
2.  Every candidate shall, in the beginning of the election meeting, inform the Chairman in writing of his candidature.
3.  The Chairman shall, by reading out in the meeting, inform the names of the candidates for each category of seats in respect of each Standing Committee or Committees of the Panchayat.

6. Manner of election-

1.  The Chairman shall, if the number of vacancies in each category of seats in a Standing Committee and the number of candidates for that category of seats are equal, declare all such candidates as duly elected to the said category of seats.
2.  The Chairman shall , if the number of candidates for each category are less than the number of vacancies in each such category, declare such candidates as duly elected to the said categories and elect the members to the remaining vacancy or vacancies in a special meeting convenced for the purpose, within five days.
3.  The members present shall, if the number of candidates are more number of vacancies, elect the members to the vacancy through proportional representation by a single transferable vote,

7. Manner of marking votes, counting of votes and declaration of results –

(1) The Chairman shall supply to every member wishing to vote in the election paper m the form appended to these rules, and the ballot paper shall contain the names of all candidates in respect of all the categories.

(2) Each member shall, immediately on receipt of the ballot paper, proceed to the place set apart for voting and put the mark 'X' on the ballot paper against the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote and then ballot paper so as to conceal his vote and put it into the ballot box placed in full view of the Chairman.

(3) The Chairman shall, if any member supplied with a ballot paper-violates the secrecy, of voting, take back the ballot paper supplied to him and record on the reverse, side of it as "Cancelled, violated the secrecy of voting" and put his signature beneath it.

(4) Any vote marked in the ballot paper cancelled under sub-rule (3) shall not be taken into account and such ballot paper shall be kept in

a separate cover.

(5) The Chairman shall, after completion of the voting, open the ballot box in the presence of the members, take out the ballot papers therein and count the votes obtained by each candidate.

(6) The ballot papers, not containing the mark 'X¹ as specified in sub-rule (2) or containing the signature or writing of any member or

containing the mark ''X' against more than one name, shall be rejected.

(7) The election result shall be declared in accordance with the following manner, namely:—

(a) If there is only one vacancy, the candidate obtaining most valid votes shall be declared as elected and in the event of two or more candi- dates obtaining most valid votes equally, lots shall be drawn in the meeting and the person whose name is drawn first shall be declared as elected.

(b) If there are two or more vacancies, the candidates obtaining more number of valid votes shall be declared as elected by eliminating the candidates obtaining lesser number of valid votes.

(c) The Chairman shall, in the event of two or more contesting candidates, obtaining equal number Of valid votes or two or more candidates in the list of candidates obtaining equal number of least valid votes, draw lots in the presence of the members to decide .which candidate is to be elimi- nated and repeat such elimination until the number of candidates becomes equal to the number of vacancies.

8. Filling up of casual vacancies,—The President shall, as soon as possible on the occurance of a casual vacancy of any member or members in a Standing Committee or Standing Committees, convene a special meeting of the elected members of the Panchayat .for this purpose and fill up the vacancy by conducting election in accordance with rules 6 and 7.

9. Election of Standing Committee Chairman.-—(1} The President shall, as soon as possible, after the election of members of a Standing Committee or the occurance of a casual Vacancy in the place of the Chairman of a Stand- ing Committee, convene a meeting of the members of the concerned Standing Committee to elect the Chairman or to fill up the vacancy, as the case may be, and take , the chair of such meeting.

(2) A member of the Standing Committee shall, nominate another member as a candidate for the election of the Chairman:

Provided that a member shall not propose more than one name.

(3) Voting shall not be conducted, if there is only one person duly nominated as candidate for the office of Chairman - and the President shall declare such candidate elected as Chairman,

(4) The members present shall, if there are more than one candidate vote in accordance with such rules (I) to (4) of rule 7 and the Chairman shall, after completion of the voting open the ballot box in the presence of the members, take out the ballot papers and' count the votes obtained by each candidates.

(5) A ballot paper, not containing the mark 'X' as specified in sub- rule (2) of rule 7 or containing the signature or writing of any member or containing votes marked to more than one candidate, shall be rejected.

(6) 'The President shall declare the candidate who has obtained most valid votes elected as Chairman.

(7) The President shall, in the vent of two or more candidates obtain-ing most valid votes equally draw lot in the meeting and the person whose name is first drawn shall be declared elected.

10. Presiding over Standing Committee Meetings.—(1) The chairman

of a Standing Committee shall preside over its meetings and in his absence a member chosen from among them by the members present shall preside over the meeting.

(2) Any member, while presiding over a meeting of the Standing Committee shall have all the powers of and shall be subject to all the liabilities of the Chairman.

(3)- The person presiding shall control the meeting and decide the points of order and matters relating to procedure arising in or relating to the meeting.

11. Term of office of the members and Chairman of the Standing Committee.— Any member of a Standing Committee and its Chairman may, unless resigned his office earlier, hold such office so long as he continues to be a member of that Panchayat,

12. Power to resign.— (1) A member, other than the Chairman of a Standing Committee, may resign from that committee by giving notice to the Chairman of that Standing Committee and the Chairman shall inform the President of such resignation.

(2). The Chairman of a Standing Committee may resign his office by giving notice to the President.

(3) A resignation under sub-rule. (1) or sub-rule (2) shall come into force on the date of- receipt of the same by the Chairman of the Standing Committee. or President of the Panchayat, as the case may be.

POWERS -AND FUNCTIONS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE

13. Powers and functions of the Standing Committee.—(1) The powers and functions of the Standing Committee of a Panchayat shall be as follows namely;—

(a) Tax-Finance Standing Committee of a Village Panchayat

shall,—

(i) prepare the budget for each year and submit the same to the Village Panchayat;

(ii) supervise the utilisation of the budget grants and watch carefully the timely assessment and collection of taxes, fees, rents or other sum due to the Village Panchayat;

(iii) have the freedom to inspect the accounts of Village Panchayat;

(iv) conduct monthly audit of accounts and check the monthly demand, collection and balance and the abstract of receipt and expenditure of the preceding month as given by the~ Secretary;

Explanation,— The Secretary shall place the accounts of each month before the committees during the succeeding month;

(v) Scrutinise the annual accounts and demand, collection and balance; and

(vi) subject to the conditions fixed by the Village Panchayat, deal with all matters relating to the functions of-the Village Panchayat referred to in the third schedule to the Act.

(b) Finance and Planning Standing Committee of a Block Panchayat shall,—

(i) prepare the budget for each year and submit the same to the Block Panchayat;

(ii) supervise the utilisation of the budget grants and Panchayath carefully the timely. assessment and collection of taxes, fees-, rents or other sums due to the Block Panchayat;

(iii) have the freedom to inspect the. accounts of. Block Panchayat;

(iv) conduct monthly audit of accounts and check the monthly demand, collection and balance and the abstract of the receipt and expenditure of the preceding month as given by the Secretary;,

Explanation.—The Secretary shall place the accounts of each month before the committee during the succeeding month.

(v) Scrutinise the annual accounts and demand, collection and balance;

(vi) prepare developmental schemes for the Block Panchayat areas; and

(vii) deal with the establishment matters and all other matters relating to the Panchayat not coming under the functions of Welfare Standing Committee.

(c) The Welfare Standing Committee of a Block Panchayat shall

deal with all matters relating to Agriculture, Small Scale Industries, Public Health, Social Welfare, Welfare of Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes and Public Distribution System.

(d) Finance and Planning Standing Committee of a District Panchayat shall,—

(i) prepare the budget for each 'year and submit the same to

the District Panchayat;

(ii) supervise the utilisation of budget grants and watch Care-fully the timely assessment and collection of taxes, fees, rent or other sums due to the District Panchayat;

(iii) have the freedom to inspect the accounts of District Panchayat and require the Secretary to furnish any detail found necessary, relating to the receipt and expenditure of the Panchayat fund;

(iv) conduct monthly audit of accounts, check the monthly demand, collection and balance and the abstract of the receipt and expen-diture of the preceding month as given by the Secretary;

.

Explanation.—The Secretary shall place the accounts of each month before the committee during the succeeding month for audit.

(v) as and when found, bring, to the notice of the Panchayat any lapse or irregularity in keeping the accounts of District Panchayat;

(vi) prepare general development schemes for the District Panchayat area and

(vii) deal with the establishment matters and all other matters not coming under the functions of Development Standing Committee, Welfare Standing Committee and Public Works Standing Committee.

(e) The Development Standing Committee of a District. Panchayat shall deal with, all matters relating to Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy -Development, Minor Irrigation and Small Scale Industry

(f) The Welfare Standing Committee of a District Panchayat shall deal with all matters relating to Education,. Fisheries, Social Welfare, Welfare of Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes, Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development, and Public Distribution System.

.

(g) The Public Works Standing Committee of a District Panchayat shall deal with all matters relating to housing, water supply and public works.

(2) A Panchayat may, in addition to the powers and duties assigned to the Standing, Committee under sub-rule (1), give powers and impose duties through bye-laws made for this purpose under section 256 of the Act.

.14. Delegation of powers or functions of the Standing Committee to its Chairman.— (1) The Panchayat may, with the approval of the Standing Committee, by a resolution, delegate any of the powers and functions of a Standing

Committee to its Chairman:

Provided that the power of execution of any scheme shall not be so delegated to the Chairman,

(2) Chairman of a Standing Committee shall, in the next meeting of the Standing Committee, place an action taken report on all matters delegated to¹ him.

(3) The exercise of powers delegated to the Chairman of a Standing Committee under these rules shall be subject to the control and review of the concerned Standing Committee.

PROCEDURE FOR THE MEETING OF THE STANDINGCOMMITTEE

15. Meeting of the Standing Committee.—(1) A Standing Committee shall, on the date and time fixed by the Chairman from time to time, meet in the Panchayat Office at least once in a month. The Committee meeting shall not be held, except in cases of urgency, in public holidays or before 9 O'clock in the morning and after 6 O'clock in the evening,

(2) The Chairman, of the Standing Committee may, as may be required, convene the Committee meeting and shall, if required in writing recording the subject to be discussed, by the Secretary or not less than three members of the Committee, convene the Committee meeting within 48 hours,

(3) The Chairman of the Standing Committee shall, at least three clear days before the date fixed for a meeting, give notice regarding the dale, time and the subject to be discussed in the meeting, lo the members:

Provided that the Chairman may, in case of urgency, convene the

meeting by giving short notice.

Explanation.-"In the above said clear days, declared holidays shall be included but the date of receipt of the notice and the date of the meeting shall not be included.

A copy of the notice and agenda of the meeting shall be published on the notice board in the office of the concerned Panchayat

(4) The date and time of the meeting and the subjects to be discussed m the meeting shall be intimated to the President and the Vice-President who are ex-officio members.

(5) The Secretary shall prepare the agenda in consultation with the Chairman of die Standing Committee and the agenda shall contain the .subjects which according to the Secretary requires the consideration of the committee and also that proposed by the Chairman. The Chairman of the Committee and the .Secretary shall have the right to record their opinion regarding any subject included in the agenda, in notes and such recorded notes shall be submitted before the Committee while discussing that subject,

(7) The Standing Committee shall not consider matters except that conferred under sub rule (1) of rule 13 or that empowered by the byelaws made by die Panchayat under sub rule (2) of the said rule;

*

Provided that the President shall, if in any case any doubt or dispute arises as to whether the Standing Committee has been authorised, intimate the same to the Government and .the decision of the Government thereon shall be final.

(3) The quorum pf the Standing Committees shall be three and the Committee shall not meet without quorum.

(9) The Committee shall decide all -matters coming for consideration by majority vote of the members participating in the meeting and in case of equality of votes the Chairman may exercise a casting-vote.

(10) There shall be a minutes book to record the proceedings of the Standing Committee and the decisions of the Committee shall be recorded in the minutes book with signature of the Chairperson.

(11) The Secretary shall make arrangement for recording minutes.

(12) The Secretary shall submit the minutes of the meeting of the Standing Committee, as early as possible, for the information of the Panchayat.

16. Cancellation or modification of resolution of Standing Committees.—No resolution of a Standing Committee shall be modified or cancelled except at a meeting specially convened for that purpose within three months of passing of such resolution and by a resolution of the committee supported by not less than one half of the sanctioned number of members.

17 - Conflicting decisions of Standing Committees.—The Secretary shall, if two or- more committees take conflicting decisions on the same subject, submit it to the consideration of the Panchayat and keep in abeyance its implemental ion and the decision of the Panchayat on such resolution shall be final.

18. Power of the Committee for requisition of records, etc.—The Standing Committee may,, for the execution of the functions delegated to it, require the Secretary or any employee under the control of the Panchayat to produce any record, report, return, document or other details and to attend the committee meeting to seek more details, as it may think fit, they shall be bound to comply with such, requisition.

19. Procedure for transaction of business not provided in. the rules.—The Panchayat may, subject to section 256 of the Act, make bye laws for any matter not included in these rules with respect to Standing Committee.

APPENDIX

FORM

[See sub rule fl) of rule 7]

Ballot Paper

Serial Name of Candidate Marking note

Number

By order of the Governor,

MATHEW G. KUNNUMKAL, Secretary to Government

Explanatory Note

(This docs not form part of the Notification, but is Intended to indicate its general purpose.)

Section 162 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994) empowers the Government to make rules regarding the procedure for the election of Chairman of the Standing Committees, powers and functions of the Standing Committees and delegation of any of the powers and functions of the Committee to its Chairman. Government have decided! to make for the above purpose.

This Notification is intended to achieve the above purpose.