Punjab Govt dissolves gram panchayats

Chandigarh, February 28

The government today dissolved gram panchayats in the state. Taking lessons from its last year mistake, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat has dissolved the bodies after taking legal consultation.

Panchayats were dissolved under Section 29-A of the Panchayati Raj Act 1994. Under Section 15 of the Act, the five-year tenure of panchayats starts from the date of its first meeting.

Accordingly, the tenure of all panchayats ended by Februray 15.

A notification for dissolving the gram panchayats was issued today. This paves the way for conducting the elections to the bodies, which are expected to be conducted after the Lok Sabha elections.

Last month, the government had asked all district development and panchayat officers to submit details of the first meetings of the panchayats, so that the process to dissolve these and appoint administrators could be started.

The details of the assistant engineer, junior engineer, village development officer and panchayat officers, who could be appointed as administrators of the panchayats, were also sought.

Interestingly, the tenure of panchayat samitis and zila parishads is till November 2024. Their dissolution will be done later.