The meeting of a village panchayat shall be held at such intervals as my

Provisions relating to village panchayats.

1. (A) Conduct of business.

be prescribed: Provided that the Sarpanch for any specified reason may, and upon the written request of not less than one third of the members shall call a meeting of the panchayat at any other time:

1[Provided further that in case where such meeting is not called by the Sarpanch within a period of one month from the date of receipt of such written request, it shall be competent for the Taluka Development Officer to call such meeting on such date as may be specified by him.]

92. (1) A village panchayat may constitute an Executive Committee for performing such

of its functions and duties (not being those pertaining to its Social Justic Committee) as the panchayat may assign to it.

1. (2) The Executive Committee shall consist of five members to be elected by the panchayat from amongst its members, out of whom one shall belong to a Scheduled Castes or a Scheduled Tribes and one shall be a woman.
2. (3) A village panchayat shall constitute a committee called the Social Justice Committee for performing such functions as are essential for securing social justice to the weaker sections of the society including persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, as may be prescribed, and the constitution of such committee shall be such as may be prescribed.
3. (4) In addition to the aforesaid committees, a village panchayat may with the previous approval of the State Government constitute one or more committees consisting of such members of the panchayat and other residents of the village as the panchayat may determine, or appoint any of its members, to execute any work or scheme decided upon by the panchayat or to inquire into and report to the panchayat on matters which the panchayat may refer to such committee or member. The panchayat may make regulations for the procedure to be followed by any such committee.
4. (5) Where any committee is constituted under this section the members of the committee shall elect from amongst themselves the Chairman of the committee: Provided that—
   • (a) where the Sarpanch and Upa-Sarpanch both are members of any such committee,

the Sarpanch shall be the ex-officio, Chairman of such committee and if he declines to hold

the office the Upa-Sarpanch shall be the ex-officio, Chairman of the committee, unless he also declines to hold the office, and

1. (b) where only one of them is a member thereof he shall be the ex-officio, Chairman of the committee, unless he declines to hold the office.

1. (6) (a) The term of each of the committee other than the Executive Committee and the Social Justice Committee shall be such as may be determined by the panchayat.
   • (b) The term of the Executive Committee shall be two years and on the expiry of its term, the committee may be reconstituted; and the term of the Social Justice Committee shall be co-extensive with the duration of the panchayat: 1. This Proviso was added by Guj. 15 of 2015, s. 18. Village Panchayat Committees, their Constitution, Powers, functions and duties. Meeting of Panchayats.

1993 : Guj. 18] Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993. 37

Provided that where the unexpired part of the duration of the panchayat during which the Executive Committee is constituted or reconstituted is less than two years, the term of the Executive Committee shall be co-extensive with the unexpired part of the duration of the panchayat.

1. (7) A member once elected to a committee shall be eligible for re-election.
2. (8) A member or Chairman may resign from membership or chairmanship of a committee by tendering his resignation to the panchayat.
3. (9) Any vacancy occuring in a committee shall be filled in as soon as possible.
4. (10) The committees constituted under this section shall in the performance of their functions exercise such powers and discharge such duties of a village panchayat as may be assigned to them by the panchayat.
5. (11) Such of the powers, functions and duties of the panchayat as are not assigned to any committee shall be exercised and performed by the panchayat.
6. (12) The panchayat may at any time withdraw from any committee other than the Social Justice Committee any of the powers, functions and duties assigned to it and may assign the same to any other committee other than the Social Justice Committee.
7. (13) A committee shall conform to any instructions that may from time to time be given to it by the panchayat; the panchayat may at any time call for any extract from any proceedings of any committee and for any return, statement, account or report in connection with any matter with which any committee has been authorised or directed to deal, every such requisition, shall without unreasonable delay, be complied with by the committee so called upon.
8. (14) Notwithstanding the assignment of any powers, functions and duties of a panchayat to a committee thereof,—
   • (a) any person aggrieved by a decision of a committee other than the Social Justice Committee in such classes of cases as may be prescribed may prefer an appeal to the panchayat, and
   • (b) any person aggrieved by the decision of the Social Justice Committee may prefer an appeal to the Social Justice Committee of the taluka panchayat, within a period of sixty days from the date of such decision and the panchayat or, as the case may be, the Social Justice Committee of the taluka panchayat may after giving an opportunity to the appellant to be heard confirm, modify or reverse the decision appealed against and pass such order as it may think proper. 93. (1) There shall be held at least two ordinary meetings of the gram sabha every year

Provided that the Sarpanch may, at any time on his own motion, and shall, if required by the taluka panchayat or district panchayat call an extraordinary meeting of the gram sabha.

1. (2) Any officer authorised in this behalf by the taluka panchayat or district panchayat by general or special order shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in, the proceedings of a meeting of a gram sabha, but shall not be entitled to vote.
2. (3) Unless otherwise provided in this Act, the Sarpanch, and in the absence of the Sarpanch, the Upa-Sarpanch shall preside over every meeting of the gram sabha. In the absence of the Sarpanch and Upa-Sarpanch, the members of the gram sabha shall elect one of the members of the panchayat present to preside.
3. (4) If any dispute arises as to whether a person is entitled to attend a meeting of a gram sabha, such dispute shall be decided by the person presiding, regard being had to the entry in the list of voters for the whole of the village or ward thereof, as the case may be, and his decision shall be final. Meeting of Gram Sabha.

from the commencement of that year, and the village panchayat shall place before, such meeting.-

1. (i) the annual statement of accounts;
2. (ii) the report on the administration in the preceding financial year;
3. (iii) the development and other programme of work proposed for the current financial year;
4. (iv) the last audit note and replies (if any) made thereto;
5. (v) any other matter which the taluka panchayat and district panchayat requires

to be placed before such meeting.

1. (2) It shall be open to the gram sabha to discuss any or all of the matters placed before it under sub-section (1) and the panchayat shall consider suggestions, if any, made by the gram sabha.
2. (3) A gram sabha shall carry out any other functions as may be prescribed.