SRINAGAR: The State Administrative Council (SAC), which met here last evening under the chairmanship of Governor, Shri N N Vohra, approved amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 to provide for consultation with Halqa Majlis before preparing the development plan for a Panchayat.
The decision is a step towards devolution of more powers to the people who will be empowered to take decisions about their developmental requirements/ area specific activities.
Also, in order to provide continuity to the development of Panchayats and in the absence of Halqa Panchayats, the amendment empowers the concerned BDO to collect fee/ taxes already imposed by the Halqa Panchayat.
To facilitate the process of early Panchayat elections in the State, the SAC approved amendment proposed by Department of RD&PR to exclude the Sarpanch from the minimum and maximum number of Panchs in a Panchayat, so that no fresh exercise of delimitation of Panchayats is required to be undertaken.
