Election of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha.

44. Election of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha. - (1) Every Grama Pan chayat shall, 1[within one month from the date of publication of names of elected members under sub - section (8) of section 5]1, 2[or immediately before the expiry of term of office of Adhyaksha and Upadhyksha]2 choose two members of the Grama Panchayat to be respectively Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha. In the event of occurrence of any vacancy by reason of death, resignation, removal or otherwise in the office of Adhyaksha or Upadhyaksha, the Grama Panchayat shall choose another member to be the Adhyaksha or th e Upadhyaksha, as the case may be. (2) Subject to the general or special order of the 1[State Election Commission]1, the Deputy Commissioner shall reserve, - (a) such number of offices of Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas of Grama Panchayats in the State for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the number of such offices bearing as nearly as may be the same pro portion to the total number of the offices in the 63 State as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State bears to the total population of the State: 1[Proviso x x x]1 2[Provided that, if no person belonging to the scheduled caste is available, the seats reserved for that category, shall also be filled by the persons belonging to the scheduled tribes and vice -versa ]2 2. Inser ted by Act 44 of 2015 w.e.f. 25.02.2016. (b) such number of offices of Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas of the Grama Panchayats, which shall as nearly as may be, one -third of the total number of offices of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha in the State for the persons belonging to the Backward Classes: 2[But t he number of offices of Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas reserved for the Backward Classes under this clause shall be so determined, that the total number of offices of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes under clause (a) and the Backward Classes under this clause shall not exceed fifty per cent of the total number of offices of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha of the Grama Panchayaths in the State.]2 1[Provided that out of the offices reserved under this clause e ighty per cent of the total number of such offices shall be reserved for the persons falling under category ‘A’ and the remaining twenty per cent of the offices shall be reserved for the persons falling under category ‘B’: Provided further that if no person falling under category ‘A’ is available, the offices reserved for that category shall also be filled by the persons falling under cate gory ‘B’ and Vice versa .]1 (c) not less than 1[fifty percent]1 of the total number of offices of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha of Grama Panchayats in the State from each of the categories which are reserved for persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Sch eduled Tribe and Backward Classes and of those which are non -reserved, for women 2[Subject to an overall limit of one half of the total number rounding of to the next number]2; Provided that the offices reserved under this sub -section shall be allotted by rotation to different Grama Panchayats. 3[Provided further that the duration of the offices reserved under this sub -section shall be thirty months.]3 Explanation .- For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared that the principle of rotation for purpos e of reservation of offices under this section shall commence from the first election to be held after the commencement of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993. 2. Inser ted by Act 17 of 2015 w.e.f. 30.04.2015