Chapter II CONSTITUTION AND FUNCTIONS OF VILLAGE AUTHORITIES

1. (1) For every village having twenty or more tax-paying houses there shall be a village Authority consisting of
   • (a) five members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is not less than twenty but is not more than sixty;
   • (b) seven members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is more than sixty but is not more than one hundred;
   • (c) ten members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is more than one hundred but is not more than one hundred and fifty;
   • (d) twelve members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is more than one hundred and fifty.
2. (2) The Chief Commissioner may, having regard to the general interests of the people of any village as also to the demand, if any, from the people of that village for an elected Village Authority, declare, by notification in the Official Gazette, that the village shall have an elected Village Authority, and thereupon the members of the Village Authority of that village shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder.
3. (3) Where no declaration under sub-section (2) has been made in relation to any village the members of the Village Authority of that village shall be nominated by the Chief Commissioner.
4. (4) Where there is a Chief Khulakpa in a village, he shall be the ex officio chairman of the Village Authority of that village; and where there is no such Chief or Khulakpa in the village, the chairman of the village Authority of that village shall be elected by the members of the Village Authority from among themselves.

A person shall not be qualified to be chosen as a member of a Village Authority unless he—

1. (a) is a citizen of India;
2. (b) is not less than twenty-five years of age; and
3. (c) in the case of membership of an elected Village Authority, is registered in the electoral roll as a voter for the election of a member of the Village Authority.

A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of a Village Authority,—

1. (a) if he is a member of any other Village Authority;
2. (b) if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent authority.

The term of office of members of a Village Authority shall be three years from the date appointed for its first meeting.

The election of members of the Village Authority of a village shall be on the basis of adult suffrage, that is to say, every person who is a citizen of India and who is ordinarily resident in the village and is not less than twenty-one years of age on such date as may be fixed by rules made under this Act, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election. Explanation.—A person shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident in a village if he ordinarily resides in that village or owns, or is in possession of, a dwelling house therein.

1. (1) The Deputy Commissioner may remove any member of a Village Authority from his office—
   • (a) who is convicted of any non-bailable offence; or
   • (b) who refuses to act, or becomes incapable of acting, or is declared to be insolvent; or
   • (c) who has been declared by notification to be disqualified for employment in the public service; or
   • (d) who, without an excuse sufficient in the opinion of the Deputy Commissioner, absents himself from six consecutive meetings of the Village Authority; or
   • (e) who has been guilty of misconduct in the discharge of his duties, or of any disgraceful conduct, if two-thirds of the total number of the members of the Village Authority at a meeting recommend his removal.
2. (2) No person who has been removed from his office under clause (a) or clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall be eligible for re-nomination or re-election except with the previous permission of the Chief Commissioner obtained by such person in the prescribed manner.

A member of a Village Authority may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the chairman of the Authority but shall continue in office until his resignation has been accepted in a meeting of the Authority.

When the office of a member of a Village Authority becomes vacant by his removal, resignation or death, a new member shall be nominated or elected to fill the vacancy and shall hold office so long as the member whose place he fills would have been entitled to hold office if such vacancy had not occurred.

No election of a member of a Village Authority shall be called in question in any court, and no court shall grant an injunction,—

1. (a) to postpone the election of a member of a Village Authority; or
2. (b) to prohibit a person, declared to have been duly elected under this Act, from taking part in the proceedings of a Village Authority of which he has been elected a member; of
3. (c) to prohibit members nominated or elected for a Village Authority from entering upon their duties.

1. (1) If a dispute arises as to the election of any member of a Village Authority, the matter shall be referred to the Deputy Commissioner who shall decide the same after giving notice to the parties concerned and after taking such evidence as may be produced.
2. (2) The order of the Deputy Commissioner may, within thirty days from the date thereof, be revised by the Chief Commissioner whose decision shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court.

No Act done or proceedings taken by a Village Authority under this Act shall be questioned on the ground merely of—

1. (a) the existence of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Village Authority;
2. (b) any defect or irregularity not affecting the merits of the case.

Every Village Authority shall be a body corporate by the name of the village for which it is constituted and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall by the said name sue and be sued, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and do all other things necessary for the purposes of this Act.

Subject to the general superintendence and control of the Deputy commissioner, the sub-divisional magistrate shall have control over all the Village Authorities within the local limits of his jurisdiction.

1. (1) Every Village Authority constituted under this Act shall, within the local limits of its jurisdiction, perform the following functions, namely:--
   • (a) it shall, to the best of its ability maintain law and order and for there purpose exercise and perform the powers and duties generally conferred and imposed on the police by or under the Police Act, 1861 (5 of 1861): Provided that a Village Authority shall not be deemed to be a police officer within the meaning of sections 25 and 16 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), or section 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898);
   • (b) it shall cause to be arrested without any order from a magistrate and without a warrant--
     • (i) any person who is a vagrant or commits a heinous offence or who has been concerned in any such offence or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned,
     • (ii) any person against whom a hue and cry has been raised on the ground of his having been concerned in any heinous offence, whether such offence has been or is being committed within its jurisdiction or outside it,
     • (iii) any person for whose arrest a requisition has been received from a police officer; provided that the requisition specifies the person to be arrested and the offence or other cause for which the arrest is to be made or it appears therefrom that the person might lawfully be arrested without a warrant by the officer who issued the requisition,
     • (iv) any person designing to commit any heinous offence of which the Village Authority has knowledge, if the commission of offence cannot otherwise be prevented,
     • (v) any person who obstructs the Village Authority in the performance of its functions under this Act or rules made thereunder or a police officer while in the execution of his duty, and
     • (vi) any person who has escaped, or attempts to escape, from lawful custody: Provided that where a Village Authority is unable to arrest an offender it shall forthwith report the matter to the sub-divisional magistrate who shall provide the Village Authority with such assistance as it requires: Provided further that the Village Authority may pursue beyond the local limits of its jurisdiction any person who has committed a heinous offence or is a vagrant or of bad or suspicious character, and arrest such person outside the local limits of its jurisdiction with the consent of the Village Authority within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the person pursued is found;
   • (c) it shall give immediate information to the sub-divisional magistrate of every unnatural, suspicious or sudden death which may occur, and of any heinous offence which may be committed, within the local limits of its jurisdiction and shall keep the sub-divisional magistrate informed of all disputes which are likely to lead to a riot or serious affray; and
   • (d) it shall supply any information which any police officer or the sub-divisional magistrate or the Deputy commissioner may require from it.
2. (2) No person who is arrested under this section shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds of such arrest.
3. (3) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.

1. (1) Every person shall be bound to render, to a Village Authority performing the functions under this Act, all the assistance which he is bound to render to a police officer under section 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), and every person who refuses or neglects to comply with any requisition for such assistance shall be punishable with fine may extend to—
   • (a) two hundred rupees, where the sentence passed by a Village court; or
   • (b) five hundred rupees, where the sentence is passed by the court of a sub-divisional magistrate.
2. (2) Against an order passed under sub-section (1) an appeal shall lie—
   • (a) to the court of sub-divisional magistrate, where the order is passed by a village court;
   • (b) to the court of session, where the order is passed by the court of the sub-divisional magistrate, within period of thirty days from the date of such order or within such longer period as the appellate court may allow: Provided that no appeal shall lie in any case in which a village court passes a sentence of fine not exceeding twenty rupees or in any case in which the court of a sub-divisional magistrate passes a sentence of fine not exceeding one hundred rupees.

The Chief Commissioner may at any time call for and examine the record of any proceeding before a Village Authority, village court, sub-divisional magistrate or Deputy Commissioner under section 17 for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of any finding, sentence or order recorded or passed and after perusing the record set aside, modify or confirm such finding, sentence or order: Provided that where an order has been made by the court of session in an appeal preferred under sub-section (2) of section 17, the Chief Commissioner shall not interfere with such appellate order.

Whenever a Village Authority has been constituted for any village, the Chief Commissioner may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint any two or more of the members of the Village Authority to be a village court during their term of office as members of the Village Authority.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), the village court shall have jurisdiction concurrent with that of the criminal court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the village is situated for the trial of all offences specified in the Schedule.