The matter of making village heads administrators in Uttar Pradesh has now reached the High Court. The order of appointing the heads of UP government as administrators has been challenged in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. While hearing the PIL filed by Omprakash Prajapati, the court has sought a reply from the state government on Wednesday (June 3).
Petitioner Omprakash claims that this order is contrary to the intention of the Panchayati Raj Act and the established system, hence it should be cancelled. During the hearing of the case, the government order and related legal provisions were mentioned before the court. Taking the matter seriously, the court has listed it for next hearing. The hearing of the case will be on June 3.
Petitioner’s argument
The petitioner argues that according to Section 12(3) (a) of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, the tenure of the village head can be only a maximum of five years from the date of taking the oath. In such a situation, keeping the existing Pradhans as administrators by not conducting Panchayat elections on time is tantamount to indirectly extending their tenure, which is contrary to the intention of the law.
He said that earlier when Panchayat elections were not held on time, ADO Panchayat or other government officials were appointed administrators to run the Gram Panchayats. He said that this time also a competent government officer should be appointed administrator and not those village heads whose statutory tenure has expired.
The court sought answers from the government
Om Prakash’s lawyer Amarendra Nath Tripathi said, the court has directed the government lawyer appearing in this case to present his case on Wednesday after taking instructions from the state government. Justice Shekhar B. The bench of Justice Saraf and Justice Awadhesh Kumar Choudhary has taken instructions and ordered to present the side.
what is the matter
In fact, after the tenure of the heads of Gram Panchayats ended, the UP government appointed them as administrators of their Panchayats for 6 months. Under the order, the outgoing head will work as administrator in 57,694 gram panchayats of the state from Wednesday. The tenure of all 57 thousand 694 gram panchayats of UP had ended on 26 May. A day before this, on May 25, the Yogi government made village heads administrators until the Panchayat elections in UP or for the next 6 months.
The government says that this decision has been taken due to the delay in Panchayat elections and the lengthy backward class reservation process. According to the government, due to this, cleanliness, drinking water, MNREGA, road repair and other development works will continue without any interruption. It was said in the order that the administrator i.e. the village head will not be able to take any major or policy related decision at his level. If it is necessary to take such a decision in any urgent or special situation, then its proposal will be sent to the District Magistrate through the District Panchayat Raj Officer. A decision will be taken only after getting the approval of the District Magistrate.
old tradition
Till now, according to the tradition, after the tenure of the village heads ended, the ADO Panchayat was made the administrator, but this time the system was changed. Amidst the possibility of Panchayat elections being held after the assembly elections, this decision has become a subject of political and legal debate.
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