CHAPTER VI

STATE CONTROL OVER EBHCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS IN

HIMACHAL PRADESH

AlJS the countries in the world developing and

developed, have a system of local government, as we under-

stand it, and exercises a greater or lesser degree of

control over bodies. The spectrum is wide but the extremes

of complete control do not exist. However, in the

Indian context, a study of early conferences of the central

council for local self-government and those on community

development gives us the impression that anyone who argued

for any form of supervision or control of panchayati

raj institution \Aas looked on as betraying an ideal-

the ideal being that the purpose of the panchayat was

to create local self governing communities at the village

level. Many people thought of fianchayati Raj Institutions

2
as being entirely independent of any other institutions.
In fact, no aspect of local government is as controversial

and ticklish as a subject of relationship between the

state and the panchayati raj institutions. There ^re

1. Sushil Kumar and K.Venkataraman, State Panchayati

Raj Relations: A Study of Supervision and Control
in Tamil Nadu, Bombay, Asia Publishing House,
1974, p.3.

2. Heney Maddick, Panchayati Raj-A Study of Local

Government in India, London, Longman Group Ltd.
1970, p.271.
 269

two schools of thought representing two divergent views in

this regard. The advocates of the first school of thought

hold the view that local authorities are and should be

meant for making the local people self-governing. They

believe that external interference should be limited

to the state government of expenditure and the challenge

of items in the courts. They hold that the "autonomy

of local government is axiomatic. It is also believed

that the mechanism of control and supervision of panchayati

raj institutions is unwarranted, even fought with mischief;

a self-government would cease to exist if it is made

2
subject to external control and supervision. Further,

S.R.Maheshwari rightly points out that the system of

control should seek to fulfil the following objectives;

(1) To ensure fulfilment of policies, programme

and targets;

(2) To ensure that the panchayati raj institutions,

are able to establish sound and healthy, traditions

and conventions of work and behaviour;

(3) To ensure an atmosphere of mutual trust and

confidence between the elected and permanent

3
personnel m Panchayati Raj institutions.

1. Henry Maddick, Demcracy, Decentralisation and

Development,Bombay, Asia Puboishing House,1963,
p.202.

2. S.R.Maheshwari, Local Government in India,Lakshmi

Narain Aggarwal, Agra, 1984, p.135.
3_ S.R.Maheshwari, op.cit., p.135.
 270

Thfi philosophy of state government and panchayati

raj relationship was thus spelt out by the Mehta team.

The team was of the views that relationship between the

state and panchayati raj bodies must not be cramped by

too much control by government and government agencies.

It must have the power to make mistakes and to learn

by making mistakes, but it must also

receive guidance
1
which will help it to avoid making mistakes.

The Pattern and Machinery of Supervision and Control'.

The pattern of supervision and control over

panchayati raj institutions is constituted by four main

2
elements viz: basis, nature, level and form. The basis

is simply indicative of the Act authorising the state

government to establish the panchayati raj institutions.

For instance, the Himachal Panchayati Raj Act 1968,

authorises the state government to setup gram panchayats

and panchayat samitis. The nature of corilrol is external

as well as executive. In fact, we find that the control

is mostly exercised by the executive wing of the state

government. The state legislature plays little role.

1. M.Shiviah and Others, Panchayati Raj -An Analytical
Survey, Hyderabad, National Institute of Community
Development, 1976, p.331.

2. Iqbal Narain, Sushil Kumar and P.C.Mathur, Panchayati

Raj Administration, New Delhi, Indian Institute
of Public Administration, 1970, p.46 .
 271

It mainly deals with lying down the general statutory

directions. To be more specific it relates to the powers

and functions of control and supervision exercised through

the agency of executive departments and functionaries

of the state government. The level stands for the various

levels of government, i.e., state, regional and local.

In the final analysis, we can say that the form of control

indicates the type of control

exercised by the state
1
government over these institutions.

Technically speaking, panchayati raj institutions

2
have been the concern of the state government. The union,

however, has also shown great deal of interest in their

development object of guiding and educating the institution

of panchayati raj with this end, a complex of bodies have

been created at i:he union level. These bodies are concerned

mainly with study, planning, policy formulation and researh

on the problems of panchayati raj. They have been consti-

tuted at the union level, viz. central council of local

self-government and National Institute of Rural Develop-

ment, Hyderabad.

1. Ibid., p.46.

2. Local government has been placed in the State

List functions enumerated in the Constitution.
See Constitution of India, Seventh Schedule,
List II, State List No.5.
 272

The control is exercised by the state government

and its functionaries over the panchayati raj system.

There are a number of provisions to the controlling Acts

in the states. In Himachal Pradesh, the organisation

of the panchayati raj operates at two level, i.e., state

and district. However, both levels are interlocked with

eachother through administrative hierarchy which

flows from the state headquarters to the village pancha-

yats. In the state, the panchayati raj bodies are under

the overall charge of rural development and panchayats

department at the level. The political chief executive

of the department is the development Minister. The Secre-

tary Government of Himachal Pradesh, Rural Development

and Panchayats, is in—charge of the development. He

is assisted by the Director, Rural Development and Pancha-

yats and the Joint Development Commissioner.

The Director, Rural Development and Panchayats,

in his capacity as ex-officio joint secretary, is assisted

by one under-Secretary. The Director is also assisted

by the Joint Director and four deputy directors, viz;

Deputy Director (Rural Department), Deputy Director ((Land

Development and Rural Blocks) and deputy Director (Women's

S.P.Jain, in G.Rama Reddy, (ed.) Patterns of

Panchayati Raj in India, The Macmillan Company,
of India, New Delhi, 1977, p.225.
 273

Programme). In the matter of finance and audit, he is

assisted by a Controller of Panchayati Raj Finance.

At the divisional level, the Directorate is

represented by one divisional deputy director in each

division in order to lookafter the various departmental

activities. However, at the district level the district

development and panchayat officer has been given the

responsibility to assist the deputy commissioner in looking

after the rural development work. It is the responsibility

of the District Development and Panchayat Officer to

coordinate the various rural development activities and

to function as the Collector under the Village Common

2
Land (Regulation) act, 1968. The Block Development

and Panchayat Officer (at the block level) supervises

the execution of programmes/schemes concerning rural

development and the fun::tioning of the panchayats in his

block as well. He is assisted by a team of extension

officers, the gram sevak being the multi-purpose block

functionary .

Types of Control Over Panchayati Raj Institutions in

Himachal Pradesh

In terms of form almost all the state governments

exercise four types of control over these institutions.

Annual Administrative Report 1991, Directorate

of Panchayati Raj, Shimla, 1991, p.4.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid., p.4.
 274

(i) Institutional; ( i^..) Administrative; ( L"5I ) Technical

and ( i^.) Financial

1. Institutional Control

The terms 'institutional control' and 'supervision'

are used to connote and cover all those statutory provisions

which empower some specific agency^ Usually the government

or the collector's role is to regulate the formation

area and jurisdiction, membership structure and composition,

elections, size of the Councils, functional jurisdiction,

staff, inter institutional disputes and so on and so

forth. To be more specific, the various provisions as

envisaged in the various Acts, thus determine the vital

components of an institution, i.e., name, area, boundaries

and membership.

In fact, institutional control is the corner

stone of the pattern of control and supervision over

panchayati raj institutions, which relates to the basic

structure and fabric of the panchayati raj institutions.

It tends to ensure that these statutory bodies in their

operation do not violate or viliate the spirit and the

letter of the law that has created the panchayati raj

7.
bodies. In otherwords, the institutional control is

a -nuiti-dimensional affair which takes the forms below:

i. Iqbal Narain , . Sushil Kumar and P.C.Mathur,
Panchayati Raj- Adipi-nis^y^t^QPn i l^ew Delhi , Indian ^
Institute, of Public- Administration , 1970 , -p.46 • D ,
2. Ibid., p.60.
 275

(1) Determining the Size and Boundaries of Panchayati

Raj Institutions

As the panchayati raj institutions are off springs

of the Acts enacted by the state legislatures; not products

of organic evolution of self-government, their jurisdic-

tion is subject to control. The various types of panchayati

raj legislations of various states empower the state

government to determine the size and boundaries of these

institutions.1

In fact , it has been clearly laid down in the

law of each state that the jurisdiction of the panchayat

samitis, and the 'zila parishad' would respectively be

co-terminous with that of either a community development

block ^s i>» Panjab and Haryana) or with a 'taluka' (as

in Gujrat). Thus, the district/state government must

ultimately follow these directives. It is interesting

to point out here that the statutory provisions are so

flexible that the state government can modify the bounda-

ries at will. There are numerous cases where state govern-

ments have exercised this power on grounds which have

nothing to do with the twin objectives of economic develop-

ment or democratic institution building?

1. Ibid., p.61

2. S.Bhatnagar, Rural Local Government in India,

Life and Light Publishers, New Delhi,1978,p.203.
 276

(2) Amendment of Schedule and Delegation of Authority

The various state Act vest sole authority in the

State government to amend the schedule wherein the func-

tions of these bodies are enumerated. The state government

has been authorised to delegate all or any of its powers

to any officers or authority for carrying out thefunctions.

or instance, the Himachal Pradesh Gram Panchayat Act,

1958, authorises the state government to withdraw any

of the power so delegated and to impose such restrictions

and exercis;5 such conrol and revision as it may deem

fit,

(3) Power of the Government to hold General Election

Another important type of institutional control

that the state government exercises over panchayati raj

institutions is in regard to their elections. For instance,

the Himachal Pradesh Gram Panchayat Act, 1968, empowers

the state government to decide the mode of elections;

whether these are to be held directly or indirectly;

whether the whole village/block is to form one single

constituency. The second important aspect relates to

the schedule of dates within which the elections are

to be held and completed.

Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1968, Section
64, p.26.
 277

(4) Determining the Size of the Council

In regard to the size of the council, the state

governments possess a lot of discretionary powers. Simi-

larly, in regard to the mode of elections too, the panchayati

raj institutions are subject to governments control.

The degree of control is greater in the case of panchayats

as compared to other tiers. In all most all the states,

the precise strength and composition of the intermediate

and apex tiers, is explicitly defined in the Acts.governing

their establishment. However, in all the states the

various statutes establishing the panchayats merely

prescribe the minimum and maximum number of members,

empowering the collector to detemine the actual size

of the panchayats. for instance, the Himachal Pradesh

Gram Panchayat Act, 1968 reads: Every sabha shall' in

the prescribed manner, elect, from amongst its members,

a Chirman of the Sabha and an executive committee, consist-

ing of such number of persons not being less than 5 to

more than 11, including the sarpanch of the Executive

Committee, as the government may determine, taking into

account the population of the sabha area.

(5) Cdntrol over Panchayati Raj staff

This is an important medium of institutional

control. Rather it is one of the basic ingredients of

the institutional control over panchayati raj institutions.

1. Ibid., Section 22
 278

It is interesting to note that in addition to controlling

the condition of service, strength and status of state

cadre officials, the various acts authorise the state

governments to regulate the conditions of service of

even those officials whom the panchayati raj institutions

recruit on their own, and pay out of their own funds.

(6) Settlement of Inter-Institutional Disputes

As Panchyati Raj system is a three-tiered, interlocked

institutional structure, the possibility of conflicts

and disputes between institutions at the state level

and at different levels are quite high.2 The disputes

may arise between two panchayat samitis or between a

panchayat samiti and a municipal board. The various

panchayati raj Acts have such provisions. In Himachal

Pradesh, the upper level bodies of the panchayati raj

system have been empowered to coordinate the work of

the bodies at the lower level. The objective of such

provisions is to avoid vertical inter-institutional conflicts.

The Himachal Panchayat samiti and zila parishad Act,

1968 auhorises the district and divisional level officers

3
to decide such disputes.

1. Iqb^lNarain and others, op.cit., p.69.

2. V.P.Grover and Associates, Panchayati Raj Adminis-

tration in Rajasthan- A Study of the Media and
Supervision and Control , Agra, Lakshmi Narain
Aggarwal, 1973, p.13.

3. Section of the Himachal Pradesh Gram Panchayat

Act, 1968.
 279

(7) Control over Properties, Papers, Premises, Records

and Documents

Although the Panchayati Raj bodies with the excep-

tion of the panchayat samiti in Himachal have been granted

corporate status (by the statutes governing the panchayati

raj institutions) with powers to manage their own affairs

and properties, they are nevertheless subjected to a

variety of institutional controls, designed to keep a

watch on their properties, papers, records and documents.

The main purpose of the foregoing media of institutional

controls is to enable the government and various government

departments to maintai control and supervision over the

administrative, technical and financial aspects of the

working of the panchayati raj bodies.

2. Administrative Control

The term administrative control refers to these

powers and measures which enable the controlling agency

to check and regulate the day to day policies and adminis-

tration of panchayati raj institutions.2 As already

stated, every state has a well-knit administrative apparatus

from the state level to the block level , to exercise

administrative control over panchayati raj bodies.

1. Iqbal Naraii? ,op.cit . , p.75.

2. M.Shiviah, K.V.Narayana Rao, L.S.N.Murthy and
G.Mallikarjunial, Panchayati Raj-An Analytical
Survey, Hyderabad, National Institute of Community
Development, 1976, p.203.
 280

It includes both control over 'policy' and 'administration

The main objective of administrative control is to prevent

the implementation of certain policies and decisions

if they run counter to the basic goals and purposes of

the institution concerned ."'• The following are the major

media of administrative control-

(1) Supersession and Dissolution of Panchayati Raj

Institutions

In all states, statutory provision exist for the

supersession and dissolution of panchayati raj bodies

before the expiry of their normal term by state governments,

In Himachal Pradesh, the state is empowered to suspend

or supercede the panchayati raj institutions, if, in

the opinion of government, these bodies are incompetent

to form or persistently default in the performance of

duties imposed on them by the Acts, or exceed or abuse

their powers. On the suspension or supersession of gram

panchayats and panchayat samitis, under the controlling

Acts, all members will cease to exercise their powers

and functions and vacate their seats in case of suspension

and supersession respectively.

1. Iqbal Narain, op.cit., p.79.

 281

(2) Power to Cancel or Suspend Resolutions

A relevant legislations empower the state governments

to cancel or suspend resolutions by the panchayati raj

institutions and direct or prohibit the execution of

any work in the public interest. In Himachal Pradesh,

the power to cancel or suspend a resolution of a panchayat

is in most cases given to the Deputy Commissioner. However,

in case of panchayat sami t is this power is used by the

state government.

(3) Removal of Members of Panchayati Raj

This is also an important medium of administrative

control. All the contolling Acts of various stafes make

provision for this type of control. However, though

the authorities are competent to order the removal of

members and the grounds of such as well , the mode of

removal is not uniform in all states. The main purpose

of providing for the removal of members and office bearers

from the panchayati raj institutions is to enable the

controlling authority to take adequate discriplinary action

against an individual who

not abide does by the laws
2
and rules governing these istitutions.

1. Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1968, Section

54, p.24.

2. Panchayat Raj Act, 1968, Section 54, p.23.

 282

(4) Inspections and Tours

The main purpose of inspection is to satisfy the

rules and regulations. This is done through the medium

of periodic inspections of their papers, proceedings

of gram panchayats and their immovable property, and

also by demanding any information desired to make the

supervision and control worthwhile and effective, the

various state governments have laid down the scale of

inspection and tours for the heads of departments regional

district and block level officers. However, for the

officers attached to the particular headquarter it is

the discretion of the head of the department to prescribe

the scale of inspections and tours,

3. Technical Control

Technical supervision refers to the regulation

and supervision of various plans, programme and projects

formulated and implemented by panchayati raj institutions

within their statutory functional jurisdiction. Although

the distinction between administrative control and techical

control is rather tenuous, yet the state government and

and the technical department in almost all the states

exercise technical control and supervision over panchayati

raj istitutions. The extent and medium of control and

supervision over panchayati raj bodies differs from state

to state, in accordance with the status and level of

 283

technical functionaries. But the media of control in

most of the states can be summed up in the following

categories.

(1) Providing technicalapproval of schemes and projects

(2) Inspections, tours and personal visits by the

technical functionaries.

(3) Attendance in meetings of panchayati raj institutios

(4) Administrative control over the technical function-

aries .

(5) Periodical staff meetings.

In Gujarat , the experience shows that the heads

of departments at the state level are not actively provid-

ing technical guidance to panchayati raj institutions.

Thus are also not keeping proper technical control over

them. The study of the few selected departments indicates

that the heads of the department hesitate to carry out

technical inspections or supervisions as they fear that

lack of experience, may result in unnecessary disharmony

or conflict by such proceedngs.

4. Financial Control

Financial control and supervision is one of the

most effective instruments of control over the panchayati

raj institutions. Financial control and supervision relate

1. Government of Gujarat, Report of the High Level

Committee on Panchayati Raj (Zindabhai Darji)
Broda, 1973, p.241.
 284

to regulation of the finances, budgets/ accounts and

audit of the panchayati raj institutions. However, the

study of the various financial provisions under the Acts

shows that those provisions make its entire structure

susceptible to state control to a great extent in two

ways. In the first place, in all the states, detailed

accounting procedures have been laid down by the state

government for panchayati raj bodies . These pertain to

(a) intemisation of income and expenditure; (b) custody

of and control over funds; (c) periodical scrutiny of

accounts by the appropriate authorities; (d) audit of

accouts at regular intervals; (e) sanctioning of the

budget so on and so forth.

Audit is the instrument through which control

and supervision is exercised, deficiencies located, and

loop holes plugged to ensure soundness all round. There

is provision for the periodical audit of accounts of

the panchayati raj bodies by the auditors appointed by

the state governments. Generally, the panchayat accounts

are audited by the inspecting officer of panchyats at

the samiti level on behalf of the development officer.

In this light respondents were asked about the satis-

faction with the present system of state control and

supervision over PRIs.

M.Shiviah, and K V Narayana Rao, L.S.N.Murthy,

and G Mallikarjuniah• Panchayati Raj-An Analytical
Survey Hyderabad National Institute of Community
Development, 1976, p 203.
 285

Table 6.1 focusses on t h e s a t i s f a c t i o n with the present

s y s t e m of state control and s u p e r v i s i o n over panchayati raj

institut ions.

T a b l e 6 , 1 : S a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h t h e p r e s e n t s y s t e m of t h e
s t a t e c o n t r o l and s u p e r v i s i o n s o v e r P R I s .

Name of t h e Bureaucrats E l e c t e d R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of PRIs

Block
Yes No. No.Op Yes No No.Op

Bilaspur 5(11.11) 10(22.22) - 15(25.00) 5(8-33)

Gopalpur 7(15.55) 8(17.78) - 11(18.33) 9(15.00)

Kangra 7(15.55) 8(17.78) - 6(10.00) 14(23.33)

Total 19(42.22) 26(57.78) - 32(53.33) 28(46.67)

The table indicates that 42.22 percent bureau-

crats and 53.33 percent elected representatives state

that they are satisfied with the present system of state

control and supervision over panchayati raj institutions.

The other, 57.78 percent bureaucrats and 46.67 percent

elected representatives, are not satisfied with tne present

system of state control over these institution. It is

thus evident that the maximum percentage of bureaucrats

were not satisfied. But the major percentage of elected
representatives were satisfied.

Table 6.2 focusses on the respondents' views

on whicn agency/agencies actually exercise institutional

and supervisory controls over pancnayati raj institutions.

 286

The agencies denoted are those of the block, district

and state level on all of them. The specific percentage

of control is the specific focus.

Table 6*2: The A g e n c i e s e x e r c i s i n g I n s t i t u t i o n a l C o n t r o l

and s u p e r v i s i o n o v e r t h e P a n c h a y a t i Raj I n s t i t u t i o n s

Name of t h e Bureaucrats E l e c t e d R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of
Block PRIs.

Block District State All of then Block DLstrict State All of

than

Bilaspur - - - 15(33.33) 6(10) 4(6 66) - 10(16.67)

G^palpur - - - 15(33 33) 4(6.66) - - 16(26.67)

Kangra _ _ _ 15(33 33) . .. _ 20(33.33)

Ttotal - - - 45(100) 10(16 67) 4(6.66) - 46(76.67)

The table shows that 100 percent of the bureaucrats

state that the block, district and state jointly exercised

the institutional control and supervision over panchayati

raj institutions, However, the elected representatives

do not hold such views 16.67 percent state that the

block exercising institutional control and supervision

over these institution; 6.66 percent state that the dist-

rict exercises control and supervision. 76.67 percent

state that the block, district and state exercising control

and supervision jointly.

Table 6.3 focusses on if slow development of

rural areas is due to excessive state control.

 287

Table 6.3: S l o w D e v e l o p m e n t of R u r a l Areas is due to

Excessive State Control.

Name of Bureaucrats Elected Representatives

block of FRIs

Yes No No. Op. Yes No No.Op.

Bilaspur 6(13>33) 9(20.00) - 13(21.67) 7(11.67)

Gopalpur 7(15.55) 8(17^8) - 16(26.67) 4(6.67)

Kangra 8(17-78) 7(15-55) - 12(20.00) 8(13.33)

Total-. 21(46-67) 24(53-33) - 41(68-33) 19(31-67)

The table reveals that 46.67 percent bureaucrats

and 68.33 percent elected representatives believe that

excessive state control is the cause of slow development

in rural areas. 53-33 percent bureaucrats and 31.67

percent elected representatives that slow development

is not due to excessive state control.

Summing up the discussion, it may be concluded

that respondents are not satisfied with the present system

of state control and supervision over panchayati raj

institutions. In addition the respondents state that

block, district and state jointly cotrol and supervision

over these istitutions. Some respondents believe that

slow developnt of rural areas is due to excessive state

control,