From February 1, the powers of Panchayati Raj institutions will go to administrators. In view of this, the government posted administrators on Saturday. A notification has been issued by the Panchayati Raj Department in this regard. According to this, all powers of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads will be exercised and functions performed by forming committees. Along with this, the seals issued by the Panchayati Raj Department will also have no relevance from February. Administrators will oversee development works in panchayats and carry out new work.
For gram panchayats, Block Development Officer has been made chairman of the committee, while the Panchayat Secretary will be member secretary. Similarly, for panchayat samiti, the Chief Executive Officer of the panchayat samiti will be chairman and Social Education and Block Planning Officer will be members in the committee. In case of vacancy of this post, one officer nominated by the BDO will be included. Panchayat Inspector or Sub-Inspector will be appointed as member secretary. For zila parishad, the Chief Executive Officer has been made chairman, District Development Officer member and District Panchayat Officer member secretary in the committee.
For the purpose of payment in relation to Central Finance Commission grants, member secretaries will be makers for respective panchayats and committee chairmen will be checkers. According to the department, the tenure of current elected representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions across Himachal Pradesh (excluding all gram panchayats and panchayat samitis of sub-division Keylong, Lahaul-Spiti, gram panchayats and panchayat samitis of sub-division Pangi in Chamba district and four gram panchayats of Kullu district) ended on January 31.
Also, elections for reconstitution of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads could not be held due to implementation of Disaster Management Act 2005. In such a situation, according to the State Panchayati Raj Act, these will be considered dissolved upon expiry of their term.
According to the State Election Commission, there are 55.19 lakh voters in the state. This includes about 27,93,161 men and 27,26,548 women. There are 13,17,390 voters in Kangra, 330655 in Bilaspur, 422091 in Chamba, 378151 in Hamirpur, 5887 in Kinnaur, 335042 in Kullu, 25602 in Lahaul Spiti, 865432 in Mandi, 517149 in Shimla, 411481 in Sirmaur, 420552 in Solan, and 437287 in Una.
