The government is in a double crisis regarding 7600 three-tier panchayats going through a constitutional crisis in the remaining 12 districts of the state except Haridwar. There is a big challenge of disaster in conducting panchayat elections during the rainy season, and there is also a concern that the work in the panchayats running without a head has come to a standstill. According to sources, this issue was discussed informally in the meeting of Dhami Cabinet held on Wednesday.
If the reservation rules are to be approved in view of conducting panchayat elections soon, then the Panchayati Raj Act has to be amended through ordinance to extend the administrator’s tenure. This ordinance has been returned to the Raj Bhavan. In such a situation, the Chief Secretary has been directed to examine the flaws of the rules and ordinance.
These days, the topic of three-tier panchayat elections in 12 districts of Uttarakhand is at the center of discussion. Last year, when the situation of elections could not be created, administrators were appointed for six months as per the provision of the Panchayati Raj Act. After the end of their tenure, 7499 Gram Panchayats have been headless since May 28, 89 Kshetra Panchayats since May 30 and 12 Zila Panchayats since June 1. In view of this, the government had sent an ordinance amending the Panchayat Raj Act to the Raj Bhavan with a view to extending the tenure of the administrator to one year. Based on the comments of the Legislative Department in the related file, the Raj Bhavan had returned this ordinance.
As a result, there is confusion regarding the Panchayat elections. The matter of Panchayat elections is also pending in the High Court and earlier the government had given an affidavit that elections will be held in July. Although, other formalities have been completed in view of the Panchayat elections, but as per the instructions of the Supreme Court, OBC reservation in the Panchayats has to be determined afresh. After receiving the report of the single dedicated commission constituted in this regard, the government decided to determine the reservation on this basis. It is a different matter that the reservation determination rules are awaiting the green signal of the Cabinet. According to sources, all these issues were discussed informally in the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. Some members were of the opinion that elections should be held soon, while some said that conducting elections during the monsoon season is extremely challenging. In such a situation, elections should be held by September.
However, no consensus could be reached on this issue. Sources said that during the discussion on the reservation rules, some doubts were pointed out in it. Along with this, there was also a discussion regarding the amendment ordinance in the Panchayati Raj Act which was returned by the Raj Bhavan.
