Amendment of section 55-A

Section 55-A of the principal Act shall be substituted as follows, namely: - "(1) The offices of Pramukhs of Kshettra Panchayats in the State shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes: Provided that the number of offices of Pramukhs so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of such offices in the State as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or the Scheduled Tribes in the State bears to the total population of the State. The number of offices of Pramukhs reserved for the Backward Classes shall be in such proportion as determined by the State Government in accordance with the recommendations made by the Dedicated Commission on the basis of contemporary in-depth empirical inquiry and the offices so reserved shall be allotted by rotation to different Kshettra Panchayats in the State in such order as may be prescribed: Provided that the total reservation for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes shall not exceed 50 percent of the total number of offices of Pramukhs: Provided further that if the reservation for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes is 50 percent of the total number of offices in the Kshettra Panchayat, there shall be no reservation for the Backward Classes: Provided also that if the figures of population of the Backward Classes are not available, their population may be determined by carrying out a survey in the prescribed manner. (2) Not less than half of the offices reserved under sub-section (1) shall be reserved for the women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes, as the case may be. (3) Not less than half of the total number of offices of Pramukhs, including the number of offices reserved for women under sub-section (2), shall be reserved for women and such offices shall be allotted by rotation to different Kshettra Panchayats in the State in such order as may be prescribed. (4) The reservation of offices of Pramukhs for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes under this section shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in Article 334 of the Constitution of India. Explanation- Nothing in this section shall prevent the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Backward Classes and the women from contesting election to unreserved seats."