Notice to state govt over usurping of civic chief’s powers by collectors

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan issued the notice returnable within six weeks. Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Presidents of Panchayat Government (TNFWPPG) represented by its advisor N Chithra contended that despite the Constitution mandating the State to organise village panchayats and endow them with powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-governments, the district collectors have resorted to treating them as their administrative subordinates by exploiting the emergency powers granted under Section 203 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act (TNPA), 1994.

‘Financial powers absolved’ 

The plea pointed out that Section 188 (3) of the Act provides for all cheque payments from the village panchayat fund to bear the joint signatures of the president and vice-president of the village. In the absence of the president or vice-president another member authorised by the village panchayat at a meeting is eligible to sign. But ignoring this rule, the government has resorted to absolving the financial powers, particularly the cheque signing authority by handing it over to the Block Development Officers. 

Pointing out that such usurpation of constitutionally vested power in a democratically elected functionary by an administrative bureaucracy is clearly illegal, the plea submitted that an application under the Right to Information Act resulted in many districts not choosing to reply while in Thiruvannmalai as many as 24 village panchayats emergency powers under section 203 has been invoked and the cheque signing right usurped. 

Advocate P Selvi appearing on behalf TNFWPPG claimed that as many as 120 such cases have come to light while the rules very clearly indicate that the District Collector has no power or jurisdiction to interfere with the finances or banking operations of the panchayat and any such act would be deemed to be an act of misappropriation. Such an action is also against banking rules and RBI regulations and bank officials who permit an unauthorised person to access information and money from an account held would be deemed to be an accessory in a criminal offence apart from being liable for disciplinary action, she added.