Angered with State Government’s decision on appointment of assistant block development officers as administrators in each Gram Panchayat in the State, Uttarakhand Pradhan Sangathan (UPS) has moved the High Court and next hearing is expected to be held on October 17, said the UPS president Surat Singh Negi while talking to The Pioneer on Friday.
He alleged that Congress led state government has appointed administrators in Gram Panchayats to get political mileage over other parties during forthcoming general election. According to him, Government cannot appoint department officials as administrators in Gram Panchayat in the State according to 73rd amendment to the constitution. Gram Sabha is the ‘soul’ of Panchayati Raj and 73rd amendment in the constitution has provided a unique opportunity to villages to participate in their developmental activities and rural reconstruction programme through their village assemblies.
As per 73rd amendment Act, the State Government should conduct Panchayat elections regularly every 5 years. But government has delayed this election by around a month and has violated the spirit of this constitutional amendment.
Negi further said that Congress party had included enactment of new Panchayati Raj Act in its election manifesto but has not fulfilled this promise though a year has passed since election. As of now, people’s concerns related to caste certificate, ration card, marriage certificate and others are not addressed. Apart from this, there has been adverse impact on execution of government sponsored schemes at Gram Panchayat level in the State.
He further said that the state government had released three different government orders in this regard on three different dates. On September 27 and October 3, government had issued GO on appointment of government officers as Panchayat administrators while on October 1 the State Government had issued GO stating Pradhan to be appointed as Panchayat administrator.
“Along with union members, we had submitted several memorandums on the appointment of elected Gram Panchayat representatives as administrators but government had refused to fulfill our demands. Finally, the union has decided to move the High Court against Government’s decision,”