Panchayat funds. - (1) Every Panchayat shall constitute a fund in accordance with provisions of this section

(2)(a) All moneys received by the Village Panchayat except the 162 163 [money accepted for the Block Panchayat or District Panchayat or the Government] and those received on behalf of the Block Panchayat the District Panchayat or the Government shall constitute a fund called the Village Panchayat fund and shall be applied and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the rules made there under: Provided that the Village Panchayat shall have power, subject to such rules as may be prescribed, to direct that the proceeds of any tax or surcharge levied under this Act shall be earmarked for the purpose of financing any specific public benefit. A separate account shall be kept of the receipts from every such tax or additional tax and the expenditure thereof.

163[(b) The Village Panchayat fund shall consist of the following components, namely: - (i)Own income of the Village Panchayat which shall consist of taxes, duties, cesses and surcharge levied under this Act or any other law, lease rents and other receipts from Substituted by Act 13 of 1999. Inserted by Act 13 of 1999.

properties and enterprises, fees for licences and permissions, fines and penalties, income from endowments and trusts managed by the Village Panchayat, unclaimed deposits and other forfeitures and miscellaneous income from sources such as porampokes, fishing lands and shall include the share of the taxes collected by Government and transferred to the credit of the Village Panchayat and the grants released by Government. (ii)Grants released by the Government for implementation of schemes, projects and plans formulated by the Village Panchayat; (iii)Grants released by the Government for the implementation of schemes projects or plans assigned, delegated or entrusted to the Village Panchayat under this Act; and (iv)Money raised through donations, contributions and grants from the public and non- Governmental agencies.

(v)The amount borrowed

under section 197]

164[

• • * * ] (3)All moneys received by the Block Panchayat except those received on behalf of the Government or the District Panchayat shall constitute a fund which shall be called ‘the Block Panchayat Fund’ and shall be applied and disposed of subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules made there under. (4)All moneys received by the District Panchayat except those received on behalf of the Government shall constitute a fund which shall be called the ‘District Panchayat Fund’ and shall be applied and disposed of subject to the provisions of this Act and rules made there under. (5)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) to (4) the Government may direct any panchayat to constitute separate funds to which shall be credited such receipt as may be specified by the Government and such funds shall be applied and disposed of in the manner prescribed. (6)The amounts at the credit of the Village Panchayat fund, the Block Panchayat fund or the District Panchayat fund referred to in sub-sections (2) to (4) and the other fund referred to in sub-section (5) shall be kept in the Public Deposit Account in the Government treasury as may be specified by the Government. (7)All fees for licences and permissions received by the Village Panchayat under this Act or any other law 164 165 166 [ * * ] shall be utilised for the purpose for which the said fees are levied.

1. (8) All grants released by the Government for the implementation of schemes, projects and plans shall be utilised only for the purposes for which such grants are released. Omitted by Act 13 of 1999. Omitted by Act 13 of 1999. Inserted by Act 13 of 1999. (9)No contribution, grant or expense for a purpose not directly concerned with a function of the panchayat specified in this Act or any other law shall be made by a panchayat from the panchayat fund in excess of an annual limit that may be specified by the Government. (10)The panchayat shall constitute a special fund on the discretion of the panchayat from the donations and contributions which are collected locally for meeting the expenses to be incurred by the President as per the powers delegated to the President by the panchayat and its constitution and utilisation are to be according to the bye-laws made by the panchayat for this.]