HYDERABAD: It has been more than eight months since the Panchayat Raj Act 2018 was implemented, yet officials concerned seem to be unaware of its provisions. On Friday, the special officer who was designated tahsildar at Shankarpally Mandal conducted a gram sabha meeting without the required quorum. As per the Act, a gram sabha can continue without a quorum only until an hour from the scheduled time. It would have to be adjourned if the quorum isn’t formed even then. Only after another hour passes can officials resume business as usual.
The State government has rolled out a 30-day special action plan to transform villages in which it hopes to address sanitation, plantation and electricity issues. Mirjaguda village held a gram sabha on Friday. The panchayat, with a total population of 2,818, has two other hamlets in it. There were hardly 100 members at the gram panchayat office, much lower than the required quorum of 150. When Express asked about the quorum, Shankarpally Tahsildar and Mirjaguda Special Officer Shiva Kumar said there was no need for having one for conducting a gram sabha.
The action plan also involves appointing co-option members to standing committees on several matters. However, even the officer did not appear to be sure of how to appoint members to these panels when there are multiple aspirants.
In Mirjaguda, the sarpanch proposed two names for co-option member under retired employees/senior citizens’ quota. When the gram sabha asked the special officer about the tenure of co-options members, he said, “There is no clarity. It could be for one year or five years.”
Then the special officer asked for a show of hands in support of the proposed candidates, but the gram sabha didn’t seem interested to respond. Ultimately, the officer flipped a coin. Understandably, this did not go down well and the meeting ended abruptly.