Disqualifications for being an office bearer of Panchayat

Disqualifications for being an office bearer of Panchayat —

1. (1) No person shall be eligible to be an office bearer of Panchayat, —
   • (a) who is, either before or after the commencement of this Act, —
     • (i) convicted of any offence under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (No. 22 of 1955) or under any law relating to the use, consumption or sale of Narcotic Drugs, in force in any part of the State, unless a period of five years or such lesser period as the State Government may allow in any specific case, has elapsed since the date of his conviction; or
     • (ii) convicted of any other offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than six months, unless a period of five years or such lesser period as the State Government may allow in any specific case, has elapsed since his release; or
   • (b) who is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court; or
   • (c) who is an undischarged insolvent or is an applicant to be adjudicated as an insolvent; or (g-b) who has not paid the entire dues which are recoverable by a Panchayat and has not filed a declaration along with his nomination paper to the effect that he does not have to pay any dues to the Panchayat in any head; or (g-c) who has encroached on any land of the Panchayat or Government; or
   • (d) who holds any office of profit under the Panchayat, or is in the service of any other local authority or any co-operative society or of the State Government or Central Government or is in the service of any public sector undertaking under the control of Central Government or State Government: Provided that a person shall not be deemed to be disqualified under this clause by reason of his being appointed as a Patel under the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1959 (No. 20 of 1959); or
   • (e) who has been removed from the service of the State Government or Central Government or any Panchayat or other local authority or any co-operative society or any public sector undertaking under the control of Central Government or State Government on the grounds of corruption or inefficiency; or
   • (f) who has, directly or indirectly, any share or interest in any contract with, by or on behalf of the Panchayat, while he continues to have such share or interest: Provided that no person shall be deemed to be disqualified under clause
   • (f) by reason of only that —
     • (i) he has any share or interest in any joint stock company or in any association registered under the Madhya Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 1973 (No. 44 of 1973) or in any co-operative society which deals with the Panchayat; or
     • (ii) he has any share or interest in any newspaper in which any advertisement relating to the affairs of the Panchayat is inserted; or
     • (iii) he holds any debenture issued by or on behalf of the Panchayat or is otherwise connected with any loan taken by or on behalf of the Panchayat; or
   • (g) who is employed as a paid legal practitioner on behalf of the Panchayat; or
   • (h) who is suffering from any such leprosy which is infectious; or
     • (i) who has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign state or has given any acknowledgement of allegiance or adherence to any foreign state; or
   • (j) who, in the first election held under this Act, has been disqualified under the Act repealed under Section 130 and the period of such disqualification has not elapsed or such disqualification has not been removed; or
   • (k) who is disqualified for the purpose of election of the State Legislative Assembly under any law for the time being in force: Provided that no person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than 25 years of age if he has attained the age of 21 years;
   • (l) who is so disqualified by or under any law made by the State Legislature;
2. (2) If a person, upon being elected as an office bearer of any Panchayat, —
   • (a) becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in sub-section
3. (1) and such disqualification is not removable or being removable has not been removed, or is a person who becomes an office bearer while considering such disqualification which was not questioned and decided under an election petition under Section 122;
   • (b) accepts employment as a legal practitioner against the Panchayat;
   • (c) without the permission of the Panchayat, remains absent from three consecutive meetings of the Panchayat or its committee or does not attend half of the meetings held within a period of six months; then he shall not continue to be such office bearer and his office shall become vacant: Provided that where an office bearer has applied to the Panchayat for permission to remain absent under clause (c), and the Panchayat does not inform the applicant of its decision within a period of one month from the date of receipt of application, it shall be deemed that the permission for absence has been granted by the Panchayat.
4. (3) The prescribed authority for the Gram Panchayat and Janpad Panchayat shall be the Collector and for the Zila Panchayat shall be the Commissioner, who shall decide whether any vacancy has occurred under sub-section (2), either on an application made to him by a person or suo motu. Until such authority decides that the vacancy has occurred, such person shall continue to be an office bearer: Provided that no order under this sub-section shall be passed against any office bearer without giving him a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
5. (4) Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Collector or Commissioner, as the case may be, under sub-section
6. (3) may appeal to the Commissioner or the Board of Revenue, respectively, within a period of thirty days from the date of such decision, and the order made in such appeal shall be final.