Quorum and Procedure

(1) The quorum for a meeting of a Panchayati Raj Institution shall be one-third of the total number of members. If, at the time appointed for the meeting, a quorum is not present, the presiding authority shall wait for thirty minutes, and if within such period there is no quorum, the presiding authority shall adjourn the meeting to such time on the following day or such future days as he may fix. He shall, similarly, after waiting for thirty minutes adjourn the meeting, if at any time, after it has begun, attention is drawn to the want of a quorum. A notice of the meeting so fixed shall be pasted in the office of the concerned Panchayati Raj Institution. The business which could not be considered at the meeting so postponed for want of quorum, shall be brought before the disposed of at the meeting so fixed irrespective of whether there is not a quorum at such meeting.

Save as otherwise provided by or under this Act at every meeting of a Panchayati Raj Institution the Chairperson of the Institution concerned or in his absence the Deputy Chairperson of such Institution shall preside, and in the absence of both, the members shall choose one from amongst themselves to preside for the occasion provided such member is able to read and write Hindi.

(2)All questions shall, unless otherwise specifically provided, be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting. The Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson or the person presiding, as the case may be, unless refrains from voting shall give his vote before declaring the number of votes for and against a question and in the case of equality of votes, he may give his casting vote.

(3) No member of a Panchayati Raj Institution shall vote on or take part in the discussion of any question coming up for consideration at a meeting of the Panchayati Raj Institution if the question is one in which apart from its general application to the public, he has any pecuniary interest and he shall not preside over the meeting when such question comes up for consideration.

(4) If the person presiding is believed by any member present at the meeting to have any such pecuniary interest in any matter under discussion and if a motion to that effect be carried, he shall not preside at the meeting during such discussion or vote on or take part in it. Any member of the concerned Panchayati Raj Institution may be chosen to preside at the meeting during the continuance of such discussion.

(5) No resolution of a Panchayati Raj Institution shall be modified or cancelled within six months after the passing thereof except by a resolution passed by not less than two-third of the total number of members at an ordinary or special meeting.

(6) The proceedings of every meeting shall be recorded in the minutes book immediately after the deliberations of the meeting and shall after being read over by the presiding authority of the meeting be signed by him. The action taken on the decisions of the meeting shall be reported at the next meeting of the Panchayati Raj Institution. The minutes book shall always be kept in the office of the Panchayati Raj Institution. The minutes book shall not be taken outside the office under any circumstances. The Sarpanch in the case of a Panchayat, the Vikas Adhikari in the case of a Panchayat Samiti and the Chief Exeutive Officer in the case of a Zila Parishad shall be the custodian of the minutes book respectively.

(7) A Panchayati Raj Institution require the presence of District Level Government Officer at its meetings. If it shall appeal to a Panchayat Samiti or a Zila Parishad that the attendance of any such Officer of the Government having jurisdiction over an area of a district or less than a district and no working under the Panchayat Samiti or the Zila Parishad is desirable at a meeting of the Panchayat Samiti or the Zila Parishad, the Vikas Adhikari or the Chief Executive Officer shall, by a letter addressed to such officer not less than fifteen days before the intended meeting request that officer to be present at the meeting and the officer shall, unless prevented by sickness or other reasonable cause, attend the meeting :

Provided that such officer on receipt of such letter may if he for any of the causes aforesaid is unable to be present thereat himself, instruct his deputy or other competent sub-ordinate officer to represent him at the meeting.