placed before Assembly: Arlekar
The Goa Panchayat (Gram Sabha Meetings) (First Amendment) Rules, 2016, which received Cabinet approval on Friday, is set to be placed before the Goa Legislative Assembly during its upcoming monsoon session.
The Cabinet decision has mandated that all gram sabhas be video recorded for the “smooth and fair functioning of proceedings.”
Speaking to The Goan, Panchayati Raj Minister Rajendra Arlekar stated, “As it is not an amendment to the Act itself, but to the Rules, it need not be ratified by the House. However, it will surely be placed before the House during the monsoon session.”
Adding clarity to the administrative backing for this amendment, Arlekar informed that the government will formulate broad and comprehensive guidelines which will be issued to all 190 panchayats across the State.
“These guidelines will explain what is expected of the Panchayats and how they could go about with executing the essence of the amendment,” he stated.
Arlekar further revealed that panchayats will have the right to hire the services of any person they wish to in order to record the proceedings of gram sabhas. However, the guidelines are likely to suggest the amount that can be spared by the panchayats in hiring such services.
The amendment will come into force once it is notified with the aim of putting a full stop to chaos during gram sabhas.
Video recording of gram sabha proceedings is expected to result in smooth and fair functioning.
Besides, this recording will also be filed along with the minutes of the meeting and will be maintained as part of the official record of the gram sabha meeting. The video recording is to be kept with the village panchayat itself and will be called for by the department as and when required.
