Chairpersons seek omission of clause ‘own resources’
Rural bodies can give nod to works up to Rs 1 cr
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 15: The Government has accorded financial powers to accord administrative approval for works up to Rs one crore to District Development Councils, Rs 20 lakh to Block Development Councils and Rs five lakh to the Gram Panchayats. However, the financial powers will be subject to the fact that expenditure of these works might have been generated from own resources.
The DDC Chairpersons, however, complained that their bodies don’t have any major own resources like cash-rich Pune body where they get revenue from Stamp Duty and Mining among other resources.
An official order issued by the Finance Department said Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has delegated the financial powers to accord administrative approval for execution of works, the expenditure of which is to be met out of own resources of Panchayats, to Gram Panchayats, Block Samitis and Zila Parishads.
Zila Parishads i.e. the District Development Councils have been accorded powers for expenditure up to Rs one crore, Block Development Councils up to Rs 20 lakh and Gram Panchayats up to Rs 5 lakh.
The District and Block Development Councils besides the Panchayats had been demanding since long the powers to grant approval to works up to some extent of funds without moving the papers to the District Development Commissioners and the Civil Secretariat.
While welcoming the Government decision, some of the DDC Chairpersons to whom the Excelsior spoke, were of the view that the Finance Department shouldn’t have imposed the clause of “own resources” as presently all three tiers of Panchayats have no major own resources.
“We should have been accorded powers to accord administrative approval for execution of works from out of the funds allotted to us by the Union Territory Government,” they said, adding the clause of “own resources” should have been imposed when the Rural Bodies are able to generate own resources defined by the Government.
DDC Jammu Chairperson Bharat Bushan, when contacted, told the Excelsior that recently their delegation visited Pune where the DDC is one of the richest body in the country having annual resources ranging between Rs 500 crore to Rs 700 crore buy they have full control over Stamp Duty and Mining.
“The Jammu and Kashmir Government should also take similar steps,” Bushan said.
DDC Rajouri Chairperson Naseem Liaquat too voiced similar concerns.
Liaquat was of the view that the DDCs are a first-time bodies in Jammu and Kashmir and it will take time for them to become self dependent to generate own resources. Till then, he said, the Government should have granted powers to the Rural Bodies on the Government resources.
The DDC Pune had come into effect in 1960, Bushan said.
Most of the DDC Chairpersons spoke on the same lines.
Describing the Government decision as “good beginning” to empower the elected rural bodies, they, however, were of the view that the administration should initially waive off the clause of “own resources” as the District and Block Development Councils as well as Panchayats don’t have their own resources.
“Till these bodies are able to generate their resources, they should be accorded financial powers for administrative approval of works to the tune of amount approved by the Finance Department. However, when the elected rural bodies are able to generate their own resources as per the powers given to them by the Government, the clause can be reintroduced,” some of the DDC Chairpersons opined.
It may be mentioned here that elections to the District Development Councils were held in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in 2020 completing three-tier of Panchayati Raj System in the Union Territory. The Panchayat elections were also held after several decades.
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