Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Oath of affirmation to be made by members.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Oaths Act, 1969 (Central Act X of 1969), every person who is elected to be a member or who becomes a member shall, before taking his seat, make, at a meeting of the Panchayat an oath or affirmation in the following form, namely,- “I, A.B, having been elected a member/having become a member of this Village Panchayat/Panchayat Union Council/District Panchayat do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law 28 established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter”. (2) Any person who, having been elected to be a member or who, having become a member, fails to make within three months of the date on which his term of office commences or at one of the first three meetings held after the said date, whichever is later, the oath or affirmation laid down in sub-section (1), shall cease to hold his office and his seat shall be deemed to have become vacant. (3) Any person who has been elected to be a member or who has become a member shall not take his seat at meeting of the Panchayat or do any act as such member unless he has made the oath or affirmation as laid down in sub-section (1). (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3), the President or the Chairman of a Panchayat or the member of a Committee constituted under this Act, who has not made the oath or affirmation as a member, shall be entitled to act as such President, Chairman or member provided he makes the oath or affirmation and takes his seat at the first meeting of the Panchayat which he attends within two months after he is elected or appointed as, or becomes entitled to exercise the functions of the President, Chairman or member, as the case may be. Explanation.- For the purposes of this section – (i) ‘President’ includes a Vice-President exercising the functions of the President under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of Section 47 and the temporary President appointed under sub-section (3) of that Section; and (ii) ‘Chairman’ includes a Vice-Chairman exercising the functions of the Chairman under sub-section (1) or sub-section (5) of Section 54 or a Revenue Divisional Officer who is ex-officio Chairman under sub-section (2) of that section. 1[41. Authority to decide Questions of disqualification or cessation of members.- (1) If any question arises as to whether any person who has been elected as a member of a Panchayat or who becomes a member of a Panchayat is not qualified or as become disqualified under Section 33 or Section 34 or Section 35 or sub-Section (3) of Section 38 or 38–A or cessation under Section 40, the question shall be referred by the Inspector to the Government whose decision shall be final. (2) Before taking any such decision on such question, the Government shall obtain the opinion of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and shall act according to such opinion.] 2[41-A. Powers of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission.- (1) Where in connection with the tendering of any opinion to the Government under Section 41, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission considers it necessary or proper to make an inquiry, and the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission is satisfied that on the basis of the affidavits filed and 29 the documents produced in such inquiry by the parties concerned of their own accord, it cannot come to a decisive opinion on the matter which is being inquired in to, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission shall have, for the purposes of such inquiry, the powers of a civil court, while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908), in respect of the following matters, namely:— (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath ; (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document or other material object producible as evidence; (c) receiving evidence on affidavits; (d) requisitioning any public record or a copy thereof from any court or office ; (e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents. (2) The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission shall also have the power to require any person, subject to any privilege which may be claimed by that person under any law for the time being in force, to furnish information on such points or matters as in the opinion of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission may be useful for, or relevant to, the subject-matter of the inquiry. (3) The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission shall be deemed to be a Civil Court and when any such offence, as is described in Section 175, section 178, section 179, section 180 or section 228 of the Indian Penal Code (Central Act XLV of 1860), is committed in the view or presence of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission may after recording the facts constituting the offence and the statement of the accused as provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act 2 of 1974), forward the case to a Magistrate having jurisdiction to try the same and the Magistrate to whom any such case is forwarded shall proceed to hear the complaint against the accused as if the case had been forwarded to him under Section 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act 2 of 1974). (4) Any proceeding before the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of section 193 and section 228 of the Indian Penal Code (Central Act XLV of 1860). 41-B. Statements made by persons to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission.- No statement made by a person in the course of giving evidence before the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission shall subject him to, or be used against him in, any civil or criminal proceeding except a prosecution for giving false evidence by such statement: Provided that the statement— 30 (a) is made in reply to a question which he is required by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to answer, or (b) is relevant to the subject-matter of the inquiry. 41-C. Procedure to be followed by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission.- The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission shall have the power to regulate its own procedure (including the fixing of places and times of its sittings and deciding whether to sit in public or in private). 41-D. Protection of action taken in good faith.- No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission or any person acting under the direction of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of Sections 41-A to 41-C or of any order made there under or in respect of the tendering of any opinion by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to the Government or in respect of the publication, by or under the authority of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission of any such opinion, paper or proceedings.]