Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
The amendment Bill seeks to achieve the above object. ______ STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS FOR ACT NO. 4 OF 1978. In the context of the present thinking of the Government in favour of direct election of the Chairman of the Commune Panchayat Council as a part of the general policy to promote democratic process in the various levels of panchayat hierarchy, it is proposed to provide for the election of the Chairman directly through adult suffrage as is done in the case of President of a village panchayat. Other consequential amendments are also incorporated to given effect to the above proposal. Besides, provision exists in the Puducherry Village and Commune Panchayats Act, 1973 for the supersession or dissolution of a commune panchayat council for certain grounds like incompetence, abuse of power or wilful neglect by the commune panchayat council. In the said Act, there is no provision to cover specifically the extraordinary circumstances when(i) the ordinary elections to commune panchayat council have been set aside by an order of a competent court or authority or (ii) the election of all the members of more than 2/3rd of the members of the commune panchayat council has been declared void, or (iii) the extended term of office of the commune panchayat council has expired or (iv) all the members or more than 2/3rd of the members of the commune panchayat council have resigned. Hence it is considered necessary to make provisions for the appointment of Special Officers in such cases. This opportunity is taken to provide that a person convicted of an offence punishable under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 shall be disqualified from contesting elections to the commune panchayat council by enlarging the scope of section 22 of the said Act on the analogy of the provisions contained in section 21 of the Untouchability (Offences) Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1976 (Central Act 106 of 1976). This amendment Bill seeks to achieve the above objects. _______ 670 STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS FOR ACT NO. 15 OF 1981 The Government have taken a policy decision to reserve not exceeding twenty per cent of seats for Scheduled Castes of which one-fourth of seats for women members of the Scheduled Castes, and not exceeding fifteen per cent of seats for women both in the election of Presidents of Village Panchayats and Chairmen of Commune Panchayat Councils. For this purpose, the Puducherry Village and Commune Panchayats Act, 1973 has to be amended.