Gujarat Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1978*
| [Gujarat Act No. 18 of 1978] | [3rd March, 1978] |
An Act further to amend the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1961.
It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
* (Received the assent of the Governor on 3rd March, 1978 and published in the "Gujarat Government Gazette" on the 9th March, 1978)
1. Short title, commencement and application.- (1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1978.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint:
Provided that the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1961 (Guj. VI of 1962) (hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act") shall even after the date so appointed, continue to apply to the districts of Dangs and Junagadh as if this Act had not come into force, until the State Government, by a notification in the Official Gazette, otherwise directs in relation to any of the said districts.
2. Amendment of section 2 of Guj. VI of 1962.- In the principal Act, in section 2, for clause (16), the following shall be substituted, namely:-
"(16) "list of voters" means a list of voters prepared and maintained in accordance with the provisions of sections 21 to 21E for an electoral division within the meaning of that expression in sub-section (6) of section 20;".
3. Insertion of section 17A in Guj. VI of 1962.- In the principal Act, in Chapter III, before section 18, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-
"17A. Definitions.- In this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "Assembly" means the Gujarat Legislative Assembly;
(b) "Central law" means the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950);
(c) "qualifying date" means the 1st day of January of the year in which the list of voters for the purposes of the general election of members for reconstituting a panchayat is prepared under section 21A or, as the case may be, is revised under the proviso to section 21F.
4. Amendment of section 20 of Guj. VI of 1962.- In the principal Act, in section 20,-
(1) in sub-section (5),
(a) for the words "At any time before the date for entertaining nomination of candidates for a general election of a panchayat is notified", the following shall be substituted, namely:-
"At any time not later than four months before the date of the expiry of the term of a panchayat under section 17 and in the case of a panchayat which is to be constituted or reconstituted under the provisions of this Act otherwise than on the expiry of its term under section 17, at any such time before it is to be constituted or as the case may be, reconstituted as the State Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, notify";
(b) in clause (a), for the words "where the general election is" the words "for the purpose of general election" shall be substituted;
(c) in clause (b), for the words "where the general election is" the words "for the purpose of general election" shall be inserted;
(2) sub-section (7) shall be deleted.
5. Substitution of sections 21 to 21J for existing section 21 in Guj. VI of 1962.- In the principal Act, for section 21, the following sections shall be substituted, namely:-
"21. List of voters for every electoral division.- For every electoral division, there shall be a list of voters which shall be prepared and maintained by the competent authority in accordance with the provisions of sections 21A to 21E.
21A. Preparation of lift of voters.- At any time not later than two months before the expiry of the term of office of a panchayat under section 17, and in the case of a panchayat which is to be constituted or reconstituted under the provisions of this Act otherwise than on the expiry of its term under section 17, at any such time as the State Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, direct, the competent authority shall, for the purpose of the general election of members for constituting or, as the case may be, reconstituting such panchayat, prepare a list of voters for every electoral division in respect of such panchayat as determined under section 20 and in force at the time when such list is prepared.
21B. Persons qualified to be registered as voters.- Subject to the provisions of sections 21A to 21E, every person who is not less than eighteen years of age on the qualifying date and who would be entitled to be registered as a voter in the electoral roll for a constituency for the purpose of elections to the Assembly under Part III of the Central law if under the said law persons less than twenty-one years of age on the qualifying date had been entitled to be so registered shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in the list of voters for any electoral division, to be prepared under section 21A.
21C. Form of list of voters, etc.- (1) The list of voters for any electoral division to be prepared and maintained under the foregoing provisions shall consist of two parts as follows:-
(A) Part I of the list shall contain the names of all voters included in the electoral roll of the Assembly prepared, under the provisions of the Central law for the time being in force for such part of the constituency of the Assembly as is included in the relevant electoral division, subject to any amendment, deletion or addition of names under sub-section (2) or the inclusion of any name under sub-section (4) made therein;
(B) Part II of the list shall contain the names of all persons other than the voters whose names are included, or are eligible for being included in Part I of the list, who are not less than eighteen years of age on the qualifying date and who would be entitled to be registered as voters in the electoral roll of the Assembly prepared under the provisions of the Central law for such part of the constituency of the Assembly as is included in the relevant electoral division if under the said law persons less than twenty-one years of age on the qualifying date had been entitled to be so registered.
(2) If on an application made to it in this behalf or on its own motion, the competent authority is satisfied that Part I of the list of voters is at variance with the relevant part of the electoral roll of the Assembly on account of any mistake in the said Part I, he shall amend the same so as to bring it in conformity with the said electoral roll and for that purpose may amend, delete or add any entry in the said Part I.
(3) Any person who may have become entitled to be registered in the relevant part of the electoral roll of the Assembly under the Central law after the 1st day of January of the year in which the electoral roll for the concerned constituency was last prepared or revised, as the case may be, may apply to the competent authority for inclusion of his name in Part I of the list of voters.
(4) When the competent authority, after making such inquiry as it may consider necessary, is satisfied that the applicant is entitled to be registered in the relevant part of the electoral roll of the Assembly under the Central law, it shall direct the name of the applicant to be included in Part I of the list of voters.
(5) No amendment, deletion or addition of any entry in the list of voters for an electoral division shall be made under sub-section (2) and no direction for inclusion of a name in that list shall be given under sub-section (4) during the period between such date as the State Government may, by general or special order, notify in this behalf and the date of the completion of any concerned election in the electoral division.
(6) Part II of the list of voters for any electoral division shall be prepared in the prescribed manner and for such purpose the State Government shall, after consulting the Chief Electoral Officer for the State of Gujarat, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the particulars to be entered in this Part of the list of voters;
(b) the procedure by which the competent authority may call for or collect the names and other particulars of the persons entitled to be included as voters in this Part or by which such names and particulars may be furnished or sent to such authority;
(c) the preliminary publication of the names of voters to be included in this Part of the list of voters;
(d) the manner in which and the time within which claims and objections as to the inclusion of such names in such Part may be preferred;
(e) the manner in which notices of such claims or objections shall be published;
(f) the place, date and time at which claims or objections shall be heard and disposed of;
(g) inspection of such Part of the list of voters by, and the delivery of it copy to, any person on payment of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed;
(h) the revision and correction of such Part of the list of voters by amendment, deletion or addition of any entry or by taking any other remedial action if it appears that through mistake, inadvertence or otherwise any entry in the list is made erroneously or defectively in any particular or any entry is left out or is wrongly included therein or any entry is required to be excluded from the list as a result of any person having ceased to be a voter on account of death or otherwise;
(i) any other matter for which rules may require to be made for carrying out the purposes aforesaid.
(7) The list of voters, consisting of both its parts shall, after it is finally prepared under this section, be published by the competent authority in the prescribed manner and shall come into operation immediately upon its final publication in accordance with the rules prescribed for the purpose. The list so published shall be final and conclusive.
21D. Name of person not to be included in list of voters for more than one electoral division.- No person shall be entitled to have his name included in the list of voters for more than one electoral division of the same panchayat.
21E. Name of person not to be included in lint of voters for more than once.- No person shall be entitled to have his name included in the list of voters for any electoral division more than once.
21F. Period for which a list of voters shall remain in operation.- The list of voters for any electoral division which has been published and has come into operation under sub-section (7) of section 21C shall, subject to any revision made under the proviso to this section, remain in operation until a new list of voters for that electoral division is prepared, published and comes into operation:
Provided that the State Government may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, direct that such list for any electoral division may be revised in the prescribed manner by reference to the qualifying date, before any bye-election to fill a casual vacancy in a seat allotted to that electoral division.
21G. Staff of panchayat, to be made available.- Every panchayat shall make available to the competent authority such staff as it may require for the performance of any duties in connection with the preparation and revision of a list of voters for an electoral division in respect of that panchayat.
21H. Jurisdiction of civil court barred.- No civil court shall have jurisdiction-
(a) to entertain or adjudicate upon any question whether any person is or is not entitled to have his name included in a list of voters; or
(b) to question the legality of any action taken by or under the authority of a competent authority or of any decision given by any other authority appointed under this Act for the revision of any such list.
21I. Making false declarations.- If any person makes in connection with-
(a) the preparation, revision or correction of a list of voters, or
(b) the inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from a list of voters,
a statement or declaration in writing which is false and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.
21J. Breach of official duty in connection with the preparation, etc. of list of voters.- (1) If the competent authority or any other person required by or under this Act to perform any official duty in connection with the preparation, revision or correction of a list of voters or the inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from that list is, without reasonable cause, guilty of any act or omission involving breach of such official duty, it or he, as the case may be, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
(2) No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against any such officer or other person for damages in respect of any such act or omission as aforesaid.
(3) No court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under sub-section (1) except on a complaint made by order of, or under authority from, the State Government, the Election Authority or the Chief Electoral Officer of the State of Gujarat.".
6. Amendment of section 24 of Guj. VI of 1962.- In the principal Act, in section 24, in sub-section (2A), for the words and figures "rules made under section 323" the words, brackets, figures and letter "rules made under sub-section (6) of section 21C or any other rules made under section 323" shall be substituted.
7. Transitory provision.- Notwithstanding anything contained in section 21B of the principal Act as amended by this Act-
(i) no person who has not attained the age of 21 years on the qualifying date shall be entitled to have his name included in the list of voters for the purpose of any election that may be held during the specified period,
(ii) the list of voters for an electoral division in operation on the date of the commencement of this Act (hereinafter referred to as the "existing list of voters") shall, notwithstanding that it has become inconsistent with the provisions of Chapter III of the principal Act as amended by this Act, continue to be in operation during the specified period, subject to the other provisions of the principal Act, as if this Act had not been passed.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this section-
(i) "qualifying date" shall have the same meaning as that expression has been given in clause (c) of section 17A of the principal Act as amended by this Act;
(ii) "specified period" means the period beginning with the date on which this Act comes into force and ending on the date on which the new list of voters replacing the existing list of voters comes into operation.