HYDERABAD: With the tenure of the elected village sarpanches ending on Wednesday, the state government is likely to appoint special officers for villages. However, sarpanches who are yet to get the bills cleared for the works done during their term in office wanted the government to extend their tenure by six months or one year.
The sarpanches said that they took loans to take up developmental works in their villages. They said that as they were in power, the creditors were not forcing them to repay the loans.
“The BRS government was vindictive towards sarpanches and stopped payment of bills for the works done. The bills have been pending for the last 30 months. If the government appointed special officers, then the creditors will exert pressure on us to pay up,” the sarpanches said.
State Sarpanches Association general secretary Srinivas Reddy said that if the state government does not accept their demands, they would lock the gram panchayat offices and start a relay fast. Srinivas Reddy said that if the government extended their tenure, then they would cooperate with the government in administration.
HC rejects plea for extension
Meanwhile, Justice K Sharath of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition filed by Thokkala Anil Kumar, sarpanch of Talveda gram panchayat, Nirmal mandal and district seeking a direction to the state government to allow him to continue in the role of sarpanch until the State Election Commission conducts elections for gram panchayats. The petitioner pointed out that the terms of sarpanches were set to expire by January 31, 2024.
Two more writ petitions were filed on the same matter on Wednesday by A Mallesham, president of the Telangana Sarpanchula Rashtra Committee in Hanmakonda, and G Vijaya, sarpanch of Kanchanapally gram panchayat in Raghunathpally mandal, Jangaon district. The sarpanches submitted petitions against the inaction of the state government and the SEC to hold gram panchayat elections.
The petitioners expressed concerns that the state government would hand over day-to-day administration of gram panchayats to special officers and said that such a move would be in contradictory to Articles 243E and 243K of the Constitution and in violation of the provisions of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018.
‘State obligated to repay’
Stressing their commitment to various developmental activities within their respective gram panchayats, the petitioners argued that the state was obligated to reimburse their expenses from the State Finance Commission, which has not been fulfilled. Moreover, they contested the state government’s proposal to postpone gram panchayat elections until after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections.
Seeking legal intervention, the petitioners urged the court to order the continuation of their roles as sarpanches until the gram panchayat elections are conducted.
Money matters
Sarpanches say that they took loans to take up development works in their village
They say that as they were in power, the creditors were not forcing them to repay the loans
Panchayat Raj Minister D Anasuya recently said that Rs 1,200 crore meant for clearing of gram panchayat bills was diverted by the BRS govt
She noted that the bills would be cleared in phases