Refer for Kerala PSC, Decentralisation in Kerala

In one of the best articles on Decentralisation in Kerala, V.J. Thankappan states:
.....Before the States reorganisation which took place on 1st November 1956, in Kerala, the Travancore-Cochin Panchayat Act was in force in the area of Travancore-Cochin princely State and the Madras Village Panchayat Act in the Malabar area of the British Madras Province. There were 495 village panchayats in Travancore-Cochin area and 400 in Malabar. For Malabar, there was a Malabar District Board. The process of democratic decentralisation of powers and unification of Panchayat systems was initiated in Kerala by the first Communist Government headed by Com. E.M.S. Namboodiripad. The Administrative Reforms Committee headed by the Chief Minister made valuable recommendations for decentralising the administration with the District Council at the Districts. The Committee's main task was to make recommendations for revitalising the Panchayat Raj system of administration. The Chief Minister had detailed discussions with the Balwantray Mehta Committee on the subject. The Committee suggested formation of District Councils which were expected to " assume full authority over development work in the districts except very important schemes which may specifically be retained in the Government's direct control, and function as full fledged local self governing units for their area". In the light of the report of the Administrative Reforms Committee the Government moved the Kerala Panchayat Bill in the Legislative Assembly in December 1958 and the Kerala District Council Bill in April 1959. But both these Bills lapsed on the dismissal of the Government and dissolution of the Assembly on 31st July 1959.


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6.2 Later
in the 1960-61 period, the subsequent Ministry enacted the Kerala Panchayat Act, 1960, Kerala Municipalities Act, 1960 and The Kerala Municipal Corporations Act, 1961. The emphasis of these enactments was to unify the laws prevailing in the three regions of the State and to enlarge their functions and financial resources. The following extract from the Objects and Reasons of the Kerala Panchayat Bill will show how effectively the decentralisation process was intended to take place in the State.
" The proposal is that the Panchayat should be the only organisation at the village level between Government and the people and that they should be the media through which the villagers come into contact with the Government. In other words, nothing that takes place within the Panchayat area should be done without the Panchayats being associated with it in one of the three ways (executive functions with full devolution of powers, agency functions and advisory functions). Provision has been made for entrustment to the panchayats the functions now attended to by the Village officers excepting the judicial functions exercised by certain village headmen in the Malabar area. Where the functions are entrusted to the Panchayats the village staff would form part of the Panchayat establishment. The Village Officer would be responsible for the collection of Panchayat revenue and land revenue and the village assistants for the maintenance of land records and collection accounts.
It is also proposed that Panchayats should be entrusted with the responsibility of control and supervision of elementary schools and of medical, public health work and for the development of agriculture, animal husbandry and cottage industries. The staff now employed at the Panchayat level of the government for these purposes will work under the control and supervision of the Panchayats. The extent to which the panchayats and the Government Officers may exercise control administrative, technical and disciplinary over such staff will be clearly defined in the rules to be prescribed."
6.3 In accordance with the above Objects and Reasons, the Act contained an impressive list of duties and functions entrusted with the village level Panchayats (Section 57). The Act also provided that the Government could authorise the Panchayats to exercise other functions such as collection of land revenue, maintenance of survey and village records, supervision and control over government primary schools, medical, public health, child welfare and maternity institutions and execution of community development works including improvement of agriculture, animal husbandry and village industries (Section 58). In spite of these provisions in the Act, the Panchayats could only exercise their mandatory civic duties and a very few of the

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development functions like road development, and none of the other rural development schemes were entrusted to them by any of the Governments in the State. The rural development schemes were continued to be carried out by the NES Blocks and the Government departments and agencies, where corruption was prevalent in a large scale.

6.4 Ever since Kerala enacted the Kerala Panchayat Act, 1960 which was concerned with the village Panchayats, attempts to have a legislation for having district governments at the districts were continued. The Kerala Panchayat Union Council Bill, 1964, the Kerala Panchayat Raj Bill, 1967 and the Kerala District Administration Bill 1971 were all in this direction. The Kerala District Administration Bill was finally passed in 1979. But, for one or other reason the District Council as envisaged in that Act could emerge only in 1991. Their life was short, because of the Constitution Amendments of 1992. Consequent on the Constitution amendment and the subsequent Kerala enactment the District Council were wound up and the new Village Panchayats at the village level, Block Panchayats at the intermediate level and District Panchayats at the district level were formed with effect from 1st October 1995 after the due process of election conducted by the State Election Commission.
6.5 Though the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act as enacted in 1994 was progressive in nature in many respect when compared to other State enactments, it was to be further refined and the new Panchayat Raj set up required further strengthening in a spirit of democracy. To make recommendations on these lines the Kerala Government in July 1996 appointed a Committee on Decentralisation of Powers with Dr.S.B.Sen from West Bengal as its Chairman. The Committee gave an interim report to the Government in August 1996 and the final report on amendments to the Panchayat Raj and Municipal enactments in 1997. Most of these recommendations were accepted and Acts were amended in 1999. With these amendments the duties and functions of the Local Self Government Institutions have enlarged and their autonomy is protected.
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7. Drawbacks of the Kerala Act of 1994 and their rectification.
7.1 The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act enacted in 1994, though contains many progressive and democratic provisions, was not free from drawbacks. Section 159 thereof enabled the Government to remove the President, Vice-President or any member of the Panchayat from his office on grounds such as misconduct in the discharge of his duties, abuse of powers and persistent default in the performance of duties. The persons thus removed from office could be disqualified from becoming a member again, for a period not exceeding five years. This provision was more drastic than the power of the President of India to dismiss an elected State Government. The provision for dissolution of a Panchayat under Section 193 also was undemocratic, if not unconstitutional. Section 191 empowered the State Government to cancel any resolution or decision or action of the Panchayat, on any flimsy ground. This provision was intended to divest the powers of the Panchayats. Two main subjects which were concerned with the common man, viz., rural water supply and rural electrification, were left out from the functions assigned to the Panchayats and these functions were allowed to be attended to by the Kerala Water Authority and the State Electricity Board respectively. In respect of minor irrigation schemes, the function of Village Panchayats was restricted in so far as they could take up schemes benefiting up to five hectares. In feet even a small village tank will have the capacity to irrigate more than five hectares. The dual control over the staff by the Panchayat and the Government was vaguely worded and there was scope for friction between the Panchayats and the Government staff transferred to them. The administrative control of the Panchayats over the staff was restrictive. The provisions relating to the Grama Sabhas were not exhaustive and they had not been given any worthwhile powers. The Grama Sabha provisions should have been made so clear that it could function as a link between the people and their administrators, vested with powers required therefor.
7.2 By the amendments introduced in 1999 based on the report of the Committee on Decentralisation Powers, the above defective areas in Kerala legislation were rectified. The main amendments can be listed out as follows:
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(1) The powers and functions of the Grama Sabhas have been enlarged so as to empower the people to control the elected body. In Kerala, unlike in other States, we have Grama Sabha for every constituency of the village panchayat.
(2) The number of seats in the Grama Panchayats and Block Panchayats have been increased from the existing 8-15 range to 10-20 range so that the Grama Sabhas can function effectively. The strength in the District Panchayat has been increased from 15-25 range to 15-30 range.
(3) The number of Standing Committees are increased, from 1 to 3 in Grama Panchayats, from 2 to 3 in Block Panchayats and from 4 to 5 in District Panchayats. Every elected member of the Panchayat will become a member of any of the Standing Committees. This will enable all elected persons to become a part of the administrative and decision making machinery.
(4) The members of the Parliament and Legislative Assembly are prohibited from becoming the members of the local governments.
(5) All functions connected with the conduct of elections to the local bodies, including ward delimitation and reservation of seats, are entrusted with the State Election Commission.
(6) District /regional Tribunals are appointed as appellate authorities to dispose of the appeals on the orders / action of the Local Self Government Institutions and these Tribunals are drawn from the cadre of District Judges.
(7) To detect corruption and to impose penalties on the guilty, a seven member Ombudsman headed by a High Court Judge is appointed. Two District Judges, two Senior Government servants of the Secretary rank, two public men are the other members of the Ombudsman.
(8) If any member of the Local Self Government Institution is found guilty of corruption, misappropriation of funds, loss of public money etc., he is liable to forfeiture of his membership. He is also forbidden in contesting the next elections. The loss occurred will be compensated from him,
(9) The President / Chairperson is made the executive head of Local Self Government Institution.
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(10) The elected members are made liable to declare their assets within three months of their election.
(11) Every employee of the Local Self Government Institution including the Government employee is made responsible to attend to any duty assigned to him by the Local Self Government Institution.
(12) The Secretary and the other employees are given more responsibilities with regard to the execution of the decisions of the elected body.
(13) The senior Government officers transferred to the control of the Local Self Government Institution are made its ex-officio Secretaries.
(14) Plan preparation, publication of Administration Report and timely vetting of the Budget are made mandatory duties of Local Self Government Institutions.
(15) The provisions relating to building tax, profession tax, advertisement tax etc., are modified to enlarge the revenue base of the Local Self Government Institutions.
(16) In consideration of fast pace of urbanisation the building regulations are extended to the Village Panchayat areas.
(17) The provisions relating to solid waste management and public health in the Panchayat areas are strengthened.
(18) Provisions relating to the "Right to Information " in respect of the affairs of the Local Self Government Institution are incorporated in the enactments.
(19) The Local Self Government Institutions are made liable to publish Citizens' Charter detailing the services they will render to the public and the time limit taken therefor.
(20) The schedules relating to mandatory and developmental functions are recast, redefining the areas of each item therein and adding some new items.
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PART - C 8. Special features of the amended Kerala Act.
8.1 With the amendments carried out in 1999 in the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, the administrative control of the Government and its functionaries over the Local Self Government Institutions is taken away. The power of the Government to interfere in the administration, to disqualify the members and to dissolve the local governments is removed. The appellate powers are vested in the judicial tribunals. This is very important because different political parities come to power in the State and in the Local Self Government Institutions. If the State Government exercises any control over the Local Self Government Institution administered by a political party different from the one in power at the State, political compulsions may be crept in and the decisions are liable to be accused of partiality and political interference. Any decision or action or inaction of a panchayat can be questioned before the Tribunal and the grievance redressed. The Government do not have any authority to sit in judgment over the decisions, actions or omissions of the Local Self Government Institutions. The judicial Tribunals are expected to change the present system drastically.
8.2 Right to information is a novel idea incorporated in the Act. The transparency in administration will surely bring the corruption to a zero level. All decisions are made open for the scrutiny of the public.
8.3 Citizens' Charter on the lines of Best Values prevalent in British local bodies is introduced to strengthen the transparency provisions. This will also put a moral obligation on the administrators to render time bound services to the public, as it is their right.
8.4 The most important feature of the 1999 amendments of 1999 is the creation of the Ombudsman. Now we have 1214 local governments of which 1048 are Village Panchayats. The number of elected persons is 14189. The number will increase after the next general elections, since the number of seats in the three tier Panchayats and the urban local bodies has been increased. The Local Self Government Institutions
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have about 13000 employees as their own staff and about 55000 Government employees have been transferred to their control. When the proposal for further redeployment of Government staff is materilised, the number of employees under their control will be increased further by about 5000. This huge administrative set up is to be put under a vigilance machinery to control corruption and other evil elements. When the administrative control of Government is taken away there shall be a machinery to check and control. Unlike in the Government, the Standing Committee's powers are vide in terms of administration. Taxation, appeal, collection of money and spending are all done by one body. The elected members' involvement in day-to-day administration is unlimited and even the payment is authorised by the executive head, viz., the President or the Chairperson. This involvement in the day-to-day administration and in financial matters is a favourable environment for corruption, mal-administration and mis-utilisation of finance. Hence separate and independent quasi-judicial system for adjudication gains importance.. For this purpose we are bringing a seven member Ombudsman into picture. The Ombudsman is the first of its kind in the entire country. The members of the Local Self Government Institutions exercise a number of executive powers and on that ground alone there is every chance of some becoming corrupt. The Ombudsman will Junction as an anti-corruption and public redressal forum.
PART D
9. Face to face democracy.
Kerala is the only State in the country which has given utmost importance to the Grama Sabhas in the decentralisation process. We have constituted Grama Sabhas for each and every constituency of the village panchayat /municipality. In feet Grama Sabha is the general body of the electors' forum in a ward. Grama Sabha has been given powers to take decisions on the matters assigned to it, oversee the administration of the local government, comment on its activities and induce its decisions, so as to make it just and development oriented. Convening the meetings
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of the Gram Sabha once in three months in a year is made a mandatory duty of the ward member who is also the convener of the Grama Sabha. The budget, audit reports etc. of the local government are discussed and commented upon by the Grama Sabha. By strengthening the Grama Sabhas, we have given life to the concept of face to face democracy.
10.People's Plan
As per Section 175 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and Section_5l of the Kerala Municipality Act, each local government has to prepare its own annual and long term plans. These draft plans are discussed thoroughly at the Grama Sabha/Ward Sabha levels and additions and modifications are suggested with reference to local needs and resources. Thus plan implementation is made easy and effective. The plans are prepared in the form of viable projects and they are carried out with the Government grants, local government's own revenue, public contributions in cash, kind and labour and the available institutional finance. The plans are integrated at the District level by the District Planning Committee. The State Planning Board gives necessary guidance to the District Planning Committees and the individual local bodies in the preparation and implementation of plan projects. The Kerala's Peoples Plan Campaign is a good example for defining participatory democracy.
11. Planning and Local Area Development Fund
The Constitution 73rd and 74th Amendments were passed by the Parliament in 1992 while Mr. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. District level planning under the guidance of District Planning Committee was a concept introduced as per the Constitution 74th Amendment. But the same Narasimha Rao Government introduced the MP's Local Area Development Fund Scheme which is a blow to the local level planning. Under the above scheme an amount of Rupees one crore is given to each MP and the amount is utilised for any local development as desired by the MP. In most cases, the scheme for which the MP's fund is utilised, will be outside
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the Panchayat / Municipal plan. The fund is mainly utilised for the infrastructure development and no money is spent for productive sector. About 700 crores of Rupees are diverted this way from the plan schemes of the State Government and the local governments. The adverse effects of the schemes are widened in some States where the Local Area Development Fund is allowed to the MLAs and the members of the local bodies also. It is highly necessary that such Local Area Development Fund of the MPs and MLAs and local body members should be made part of the plan grants to the local bodies and the schemes under the Fund should be integrated with the local government plans. Fortunately in Kerala we have not yet heeded to the demand for MLA's fund or Panchayat member's fund.
12. Performance Audit — a corrective mechanism.
In Kerala a new system of tri-monthly Performance Audit has been introduced in the local bodies. Usually audit is confined to the audit of accounts. But here we conduct an audit into all aspects of local government, including administrative, financial and developmental matters. Another feature of this audit is that it is not merely a fault finding audit. The defects found out in performance audit are allowed to be rectified instantaneously and the audit teams give instructions to the officers of the local government as to how the recurrence of the mistakes can be avoided. The performance audit report is thoroughly discussed in the panchayat meeting and the panchayat also should take steps to rectify the audit objections. The Grama Sabhas should be given an action taken report by the panchayat. In this system, the net result is that public become the auditors of the institution. The Performance Audit is over and above an annual statutory audit of accounts by the Local Fund Audit Department. The Performance Audit teams work under the Performance Audit Authority which is assisted by the State level Performance Audit Officer. For attending to the statutory audit of accounts, the State Government is proposing to constitute an independent Audit Commission.
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13. Amendments to allied enactments.
In order to strengthen the decentralisation measures, the State Government has recently amended at a stretch 35 enactments which deal with the subjects such as minor irrigation, public health, school education, land development, housing, agriculture, animal husbandry, khadi and cottage industries, fishing, water supply, library service etc., All these subjects is one way or other come within the jurisdiction of local governments as per the Constitution Amendments as well as the State Panchayat Raj/Municipal enactments. With these amendments many of the powers vested in the Government and the Government officers under these statutes, are taken away and given to the local governments. Surely this is a major step towards the empowerment of the panchayat raj institutions.
14. Redeployment of Government employees.
For the decentralised governance sufficient human resources should be made available to the local governments so that assigned functions can be attended to in time and in proper way. More than one third of the State Plan Funds has been given to the local government as part of the Peoples' Planning Campaign. Through a Government order issued on 18.9.1995, a large number of Government institutions, offices and personnel, both technical and non-technical were placed under the control of the local governments. But their functional responsibilities are so wide that they require the services of some more staff. Creation of new posts is not the answer to the problem since it will increase the financial strain of the local governments and ultimately of the State Government. At the same time there is a surplus staff strength at the disposal of the Government by way of the transfer of functions to the local governments. So, the only course that can be adopted is the redeployment of Government staff to the local governments in consideration of their - work load. The Committee on Decentralisation of Powers has submitted to Government a comprehensive recommendation for the redeployment of about 4500
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employees to the different levels of local governments. It is expected that Government will take a decision on these recommendations without much delay.
15. Conclusion
Elections to the local bodies in Kerala under the new panchayat raj set up were held in September 1995 and these bodies are due to complete the five year term in just 4 months. The new bodies are expected to assume office in the first week of October 2000. In this spell of 5 years enough knowledge has been acquired to outline the further steps to be taken for strengthening the panchayat raj system in the State. The peoples' awareness about the new system of governance and their active involvement is the key stone for the success of the present experiment. Without the active co-operation and involvement of the people the system will decay and fail once again in India. When it was introduced in Rajasthan in 1959, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said "We are going to lay the foundations of democracy or Panchayati Raj in our
country................The world is watching you. If you flinch from your determination
and get involved in mutual quarrels and petty factions, you will not be able to succeed in your mission. You have to awaken the masses of Rajasthan, and it will be a great step. The future generations will be able to say with pride that you laid the solid foundations of democracy". Hence in Kerala, through the People's Plan Campaign we are earnestly attempting to inspire the people so that they can involve in the new system of governance.

Source : Study by Mariamma Sanu George for SDC CapDECK

A discussion paper by Human Development Resource Centre titled Decentralisation in India,Challenges & Opportunities says: