Zilla Panchayath
Zilla Panchayat is a body constituted under the Karnataka
Panchayat Raj Act,1993. The Zilla Panchayat is a body corporate and is assigned
a legal status. The Zilla Panchayat is entrusted with execution of development
schemes, providing civic functions in rural areas and looking after the duties
of the government delegated in respect of certain department as per the
schedule.
The Zilla Panchayat structure and activities may be broadly categorized
as listed below: -
Political Structure
Zilla Panchayat is an elected body :-
a)The elected members as determined under Section 160
b)The members of the House of People and the members of the State Legislative Assembly
representing a part or whole of the district whose constituencies lie within the
district
c)The members of the Council of State and the members of the State Legislative Council
who are registered as electors within the district
d)The Adyakshas of Taluk Panchayats in the district.
Adhyaksha
The Adhyaksha shall be the executive head of the Zilla Panchayat
and shall preside at and conduct meetings of the Zilla Panchayat
Discharge all duties imposed and exercise all the powers conferred on him by or under this
Act of perform such functions entrusted to him by the Government from time to
time
Exercise overall supervision over the financial and executive administration of the Zilla
Panchayat and place before the Zilla Panchayat all questions connected therewith
which shall appear to him to require his orders and for this purpose may call
for records of the Zilla Panchayat
Have power to accord sanction up to a total sum of rupees one lakh in a year for the
purpose of providing immediate relief to those who are affected by natural calamities in the district.
Upadhyaksha
The Upadhyaksha of the Zilla Panchayat shall exercise
the powers and perform the functions of the Adhyaksha when he is absent on leave
or incapacitated from functioning or when the office of Adhyaksha is vacant and in
the absence of the Adhyaksha or when the office of the Adhyaksha is vacant, preside over the meeting of the Zilla
Panchayat.
Standing Committees
The Zilla Panchayat has the following Standing Committees,
namely:
1)General Standing Committee
2)Finance, Audit and Planning Committee
3)Social Justice Committe
4)Educational and Health Committee
5)Agricultural and Industries Committee.
General Standing Committee
The Upadhyaksha shall be the ex officio member and Chairman of the committee.
This committee shall perform functions relating to the
establishment matters and functions relating to communications, buildings, rural
housing, village extensions, relief against the natural calamities and allied
matters and all miscellaneous residuary matters
Finance, Audit and Planning Committee
The Adhyaksha shall be the ex officio member and Chairman of this committee.
This committee shall perform following
(i) The functions of
finances of the Zilla Panchayat framing of budgets, scrutinizing proposals for
increase of revenue, examination of receipts and expenditure statements,
consideration of all proposals affecting the finances of the Zilla Panchayat and
general supervisions of the revenue and expenditure of the Zilla Panchayat.
(ii) The Plan priorities, allocation of outlays to developments, horizontal and vertical
linkages, implementation of guidelines issued by the Government, regular review
of planned programmes, evaluation of important programmes and small saving
Social Justice Committee
This Standing committee shall elect the Chairman from among their
members.
This committee shall perform the functions relating to :
(i)Promotion of educational, economic, social, cultural and other interest of the Schedule
Caste and Schedule Tribes and Backward Classes
(ii)Protecting them from social injustice and all other forms exploitation>
(iii)Amelioration of the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes and Backward Classes>
(iv)Securing social justice to the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes, women and other weaker
sections of the society.
Education and Health Committee
This Standing committee shall elect the Chairman from among their
members.
This committee shall perform the following functions:
(i)be in-charge of all educational activities of the Zilla Panchayat
(ii)undertake the planning of education in the district within the framework of the
national policy and the national and State plans
(iii)survey and evaluate the educational activities of the Zilla Panchayat
(iv)perform such other duties pertaining to education, adult literacy and cultural activities as the Zilla Panchayat may assign to it
(v)health services, hospitals, water supply, family welfare and other allied matters.
Agriculture and Industry Committee
This Standing committee shall elect the Chairman from among their members.
This committee shall perform the following functions:
(i)Agricultural production, animal husbandry, co-operation, contour bunding and reclamation
(ii)Village and cottage industries
(iii)Promotion of industrial development of the district.
Functions of Zilla Panchayat
(1)Zilla Panchayat shall perform the functions specified in Schedule III: Provided that where the State Government or Central Government provide funds for the performance of
any function specified in Schedule III, the Zilla Panchayat shall perform such
functions in accordance with the guidelines or norms laid down for performance
of such function.
(2)Not withstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or schedule III,it shall be obligatory on the part
of the Zilla Panchayat so far as the Zilla Panchayat fund at its disposal will
allow, to make reasonable provisions within the area under its jurisdiction, in
respect of the following matters, namely :
(i)Establishment of health centres including maternity centres so as to cover the entire
population within five years, as per the norms laid down by the Government
(ii)Construction of underground water recharge structures to ensure availability of water in the drinking water levels.
(iii)Prevention of drilling of irrigation borewells in the vicinity of drinking water wells to
ensure adequate drinking water, specially in lean season
(iv)Drawing up a plan for social forestry development in each taluk and
spending not less than such percentage of the District Plan allocation every
year as may be specified by the Government from time to time.