Chapter VIII MISCELLANEOUS

Where the interest of a Gramdan Kisan or a landless person in any land donated to the Gram Mandal or where the interest of the Gram Mandal in any land, is sold on account of any default in the payment of any amounts due from the Gramdan Kisan, landless person or Gram Mandal, as the case may be, such interest shall not be sold to any person other than the Gram Mandal or a person who has joined the Gramdan community of the village in which the land is situate.

Any Gram Mandal may register itself as a co-operative society under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (Mah. XXIV of 1961).

The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, remit-

1. (a) the stamp duty with which, under any law relating to stamp duty for the time being in force, any declaration made under this Act or any instrument executed by or on behalf of a Gram Mandal is chargeable ;
2. (b) any fee payable, by any person in respect of any instrument transferring his land by way of Gramdan, or by or on behalf of a Gram Mandal under any law relating to the registration of documents for the time being in force.

1. (1) The State Government shall, on the establishment of a Gram Mandal 1[for a gramdan village in which, whether or not a panchayat is functioning] by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that the Gram Mandal shall exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties and functions of the panchayat in relation to the Gramdan village.
2. (2) Upon the issue of a notification under sub-section (1),-
   • (a) 2[The panchayat, if any,] which functioned immediately before the date of the notification shall, in relation to the Gramdan village, cease to function therein ;
   • (b) all the powers, duties and functions attaching to the panchayat under the Panchayats Act, or under any law for the time being in force in the State, shall, in relation to the Gramdan village, attach to the Gram Mandal, and accordingly, the Gram Mandal shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties and functions aforesaid; and the officers and servants of the panchayat 3[, if any], shall, subject to the provisions of the Panchayats Act, become the officers and servants of, or as the case may be, work under the Gram Mandal ;
   • (c) the person elected by the panchayat 4[, if any,] for the purpose of constituting a Nyaya Panchayat under section 64 of the Panchayats Act shall be deemed to be the person elected by the Gram Mandal out of its members for the constitution of that Nyaya Panchayat until the Gram Mandal elects any other person as provided by section 64 of that Act ;
   • (d) the provisions of the Panchayats Act shall, subject to such restrictions and modifications as the State Government may specify in the notification, apply to the Gram Mandal as if it were panchayat constituted under that Act for the Gramdan village ;
   • (e) the Gram Mandal shall be entitled to all the assets and be subject to all the liabilities of the panchayat (including all rights and liabilities under any contract made by it) as on the date of the notification ;
   • (f) where immediately before the date of the notification aforesaid, a panchayat was a party to any legal proceeding in any Court or tribunal in the State, the Gram Mandal shall stand substituted for that panchayat as a party to that proceeding, or added as a party thereto, as the case may be, and the proceedings continued accordingly.
3. (3) Any notification issued under sub-section (1) may contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions as the State Government may deem necessary, and in particular, may direct,-
   • (i) that any tax, fee or other sum due to the panchayat shall be payable to the Gram Mandal ;
   • (ii) that appeals, petitions or other applications with reference to any such tax, fee or sum which are pending on the date of such notification shall be disposed of by the Gram Mandal.

The President 1[and the Vice-President] of the Gram Mandal and the members of the Executive Committee constituted under this Act and the officers and servants of the Gram Mandal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (XLV of 1860).

Subject to the general or special orders of the State Government, the Commissioner or Collector may delegate to an officer not below the rank of a Mamlatdar or Tahsildar powers exercisable by the Commissioner or, as the case may be, the Collector under this Act.

1. (1) If, in the opinion of the State Government, a Gram Mandal,-
   • (a) is not competent to perform or persistently makes default in performing the duties assigned to it by this Act, or
   • (b) exceeds or abuses the powers assigned to it under this Act, or
   • (c) is not functioning in a manner consistent with the provisions of this Act or the rules framed thereunder, the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, stating the reasons for its order, declare that Gram Mandal to be incompetent or in default or to have exceeded or abused its powers or to have not been functioning in a manner consistent with the provisions of this Act or the rules framed thereunder, as the case may be, and supersede it for such period not exceeding one year at a time as may be specified in the notification : Provided that, before any such notification issued, the Gram Mandal concerned shall be given a reasonable opportunity of showing cause why the proposed declaration should not be made.
2. (2) On the supersession of a Gram Mandal under sub-section (1),-
   • (a) the President 1[the Vice-President] and members of all committees constituted by the Gram Mandal shall from the date specified in the notification vacate their office ;
   • (b) all the powers and duties of the Gram Mandal or any committee thereof, shall, during the period of supersession, be exercised and performed by such person or persons as the State Government may from time to time appoint in this behalf ;
   • (c) all properties vested in the Gram Mandal and any balance of the Gram Nidhi, shall be vested in and such of its liabilities as may have been incurred in the discharge of its legitimate functions or which have been incurred in the course of normal duties performed by the Gram Mandal concerned, shall be transferred to, the State Government which shall make such arrangements, as may be deemed necessary, until the expiration of the period of supersession.
3. (3) Before the expiration of the period of supersession specified in the notification, the State Government may, if in its opinion it is so necessary, extend the period of supersession for such further term, as it may consider necessary, but not exceeding one year at a time, and on the expiration of the period of supersession either as originally specified or extended, the Gram Mandal shall resume its functions and elect its President 2[and Vice-President] and constitute the committees: Provided that, the State Government may at any time before the expiration of the period of supersession, withdraw any notification issued under sub-section (1).
4. (4) The income derived from the Gramdan village during the period of supersession, shall first be utilised towards the cost of management during the period of supersession and liquidation of liabilities of the Gram Mandal and the balance shall be credited to the Gram Nidhi.

1. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) In particulars and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for-
   • (a) enquiry to be made and the manner in which it shall be made under sub-section (1), the manner of publishing substance of notification under sub-section (2), prescribing the date for the purpose of computing the period of six months and the manner of declaring a village as not qualified to be a Gramdan village under sub-section (3) of section 4 ;
   • (b) the form of declaration to be filed under sub-section (1), the manner of publishing the declaration, under sub-section (4), the inquiries to be made by the Collector under sub-section (5) of section 5 ;
   • (c) the collection charges to be deducted and the time within which and the manner in which they shall be remitted to the State Government under section 8 ;
   • (d) the intervals at which the register of members shall be brought upto date under sub-section (2) of section 10 ;
   • (e) date or dates before which the land revenue or rent of any cesses, taxes or other taxes shall be paid under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 27 ;
   • (f) other functions, duties and powers to be performed and exercised under clause (t) of sub-section (2) of section 28 ;
   • (g) the manner in which and the intervals at which surplus income may be paid to a lessee under sub-section (4) of section 30 ;
   • (h) rules subject to which money may be raised under section 31 ;
     • (i) the custody in which Gram Nidhi shall be kept under section 34 ; 1[(i-1) the authority by whom, and the manner in which, the audit of the accounts shall be carried out under sub-section (2) of section 35 ;] 2[(j) fees to be levied for any of the purposes of this Act].
3. (3) The rules made under this section shall be subject to the condition of previous publication.

1. (1) The Gram Mandal may, with the previous sanction of the State Government, make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act or rules made thereunder generally for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the Gram Mandal may make regulations to provide for-
   • (a) the conduct of election for the President 1[and the Vice-President] from amongst the members of the Mandal under sub-section (2) (including matters specified in that sub-section), the powers to be exercised and duties to be discharged by the President under sub-section 2[(4)], and the administrative duties to be carried on under sub-section 3[(5)], of section 11 ;
   • (b) 4[the dates from which the resignation of the President and the Vice-President shall take effect under section 12 ;]
   • (c) the removal of the President 5[and the Vice-President] under section 13 ;
   • (d) the manner of electing members of an Executive Committee under section 16 ;
   • (e) regulation subject to which a committee may be appointed under section 17 ;
   • (f) the term of office of members of an Executive Committee under section 18 ;
   • (g) the powers to be exercised, duties to be discharged and functions to be performed by an Executive Committee, and the powers, duties and functions to be delegated to the Chairman under section 19 ;
   • (h) the conduct of business of the Gram Mandal and of committee under section 20 ;
     • (i) the powers to be conferred on, and duties to be discharged by a Secretary, and salaries and allowances and terms and conditions of service of the Secretary and other officers and employees, and the circumstances and manner in which, a Secretary and other officers and employees of a Mandal may be removed from office, under section 21 ;
   • (j) regulating leasing of land under section 26 ;
   • (k) the manner of making payment from Gram Nidhi, and the auditing and re-auditing of accounts of Gram Mandal under section 35; 6[(l) any other matter for which regulations are to be or may be made.]

Every order made under section 39 and every rule made under section 43 shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of the State Legislature while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, both Houses agree in making modification in the order or rule or both Houses agree that the order or rule should not be made, the order or rule shall from the date of publication of a notification in the Official Gazette, of such decision have effect only in such modified form, or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done or omitted to be done under that order or rule.

In the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 (Mah. V of 1962),-

1. (1) in section 57,-
   • (a) in sub-section (1), in clause (f), for the words "Sarpanchas elected by members of Panchayats" the words and figures "Sarpanchas and Chairman, elected by members of panchayats and of Executive Committee constituted under the Maharashtra Gramdan Act, 1964 (Mah. XXIII of 1965), respectively," shall be substituted ;
   • (b) in sub-section (2),-
     • (i) after the words "members of panchayats" at both the places where they occur the words "and of Executive Committee" ;
     • (ii) after the words "the Sarpanchas" the words "and Chairman" ;
     • (iii) after the words "those panchayats" the words "and Executive Committee", and
     • (iv) after the words "one Sarpanch" the words "or Chairman", shall be inserted ;
2. (2) in section 58, in sub-section (2), after the word "Sarpanchas" the words "or Chairman of Executive Committees" shall be inserted ;
3. (3) in section 59, in the proviso, in clause (c), after the word "Sarpanch" at both the places where it occurs the words "or Chairman of the Executive Committee" shall be inserted.