Local Government: Panchayats

Neither statement is correct. PESA extends Part IX to the Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas referred to in Article 244(1). The Sixth Schedule tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram are governed by their own autonomous district and regional councils under Article 244(2), and Part IX does not reach them. PESA is also not part of any constitutional amendment: it is a separate Act of Parliament of 1996, made under Article 243M(4)(b). The 74th Amendment, 1992 dealt with municipalities and inserted Part IXA.

The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, known as PESA, was enacted by Parliament in 1996. Article 243M(1) keeps the Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas outside Part IX, and Article 243M(4)(b) lets Parliament extend Part IX to them by law with exceptions and modifications; PESA is that law, drafted on the recommendations of the Bhuria Committee. The other years are the usual confusables: 1992 is the 73rd Amendment, 1993 its commencement, and 2006 the Forest Rights Act, which also strengthens Gram Sabhas in forest areas.

Both statements are correct. Article 243M(1) says nothing in Part IX applies to the Scheduled Areas referred to in Article 244(1) and the tribal areas referred to in Article 244(2). Article 243M(4)(b) then lets Parliament, by law, extend Part IX to these areas with such exceptions and modifications as the law specifies, and says such a law shall not be deemed an amendment of the Constitution for the purposes of Article 368. PESA, 1996 is that law for the Fifth Schedule areas. It is therefore an ordinary Act of Parliament, not a constitutional amendment.

Statement 1 is correct: Section 4(g) of PESA requires that the reservation of seats in Scheduled Areas at every Panchayat be in proportion to the population of the communities for which reservation is sought, but that the reservation for Scheduled Tribes shall not be less than one-half of the total seats. Statement 2 is incorrect: the same clause says that all seats of chairpersons of Panchayats at all levels shall be reserved for Scheduled Tribes. This goes well beyond the general Part IX rule of reservation in proportion to population under Article 243D.

Statement 1 is correct: Article 243I(4) says the Governor shall cause every recommendation of the Finance Commission, together with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken on it, to be laid before the State Legislature. Statement 2 is incorrect: the Commission's recommendations are advisory. The State Government decides how far to accept them, and the memorandum exists precisely to explain to the Legislature what has been accepted, modified or rejected. The same pattern applies to the Union Finance Commission under Article 281, whose report is laid before Parliament with an action-taken memorandum.

Ten States have Fifth Schedule areas to which PESA applies: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. When PESA was enacted in 1996 the count was eight, including Bihar. In 2000 Jharkhand took over all of Bihar's Scheduled Areas and Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, making nine; Telangana, formed out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, made it ten. The North-Eastern States with tribal areas are mostly under the Sixth Schedule or exempted by Article 243M, so they are not PESA States.

Both statements are incorrect. Entry 52 of the State List, on taxes on the entry of goods into a local area, was omitted by the 101st Amendment (2016), because such taxes were subsumed in GST. Finance Commission grants for local bodies are released by the Union to the States, which must pass them on to local bodies within a short, fixed period. This respects the fact that local government is a State subject. The 101st Amendment omitted Entry 52 (entry tax) and Entry 55 (taxes on advertisements other than in newspapers) from the State List, and narrowed Entry 62 to local-body entertainment taxes. Octroi had already been abolished in most States, and Mumbai's octroi, among the last, ended when GST arrived in July 2017. On grants, the Fifteenth Finance Commission required States to pass on local-body grants within ten working days of receiving them from the Union, with interest payable for delay, which shows that the money always flows through the State.

Neither statement is correct. Section 4(h) of PESA lets the State Government nominate persons belonging to Scheduled Tribes that have no representation in a Panchayat at the intermediate or district level, but such nomination shall not exceed one-tenth of the total members to be elected in that Panchayat, not one-fourth. Section 4(a) goes the other way from statement 2: a State law on Panchayats in Scheduled Areas shall be in consonance with the customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management practices of community resources. Section 4(d) also makes every Gram Sabha competent to safeguard the traditions, customs and cultural identity of the people.