12. Reservation of seats for the office of Sarpanch.
(1)Offices of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayats in the district shall be reserved for Scheduled Castes and the number of such offices shall bear, as nearly as may, the same proportion to the total number of offices of Sarpanches in the district as the population of Scheduled Castes in the district bears to the total population of the district :[Provided that one-half of the total number of offices of the Sarpanches of Gram Panchayats in the district reserved under sub-section (1) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes:Provided further that a fraction of an officer (seat) shall not be treated an officer (seat) for the purpose of reservation.;and] [Substituted by Punjab Act No. 12 of 2017, dated 4.7.2017.](2)[ One-half of the total number of offices of Sarpanches in the district shall be reserved for women including such offices, reserved for wo belonging to Scheduled Castes under sub-section (1):Provided that a fraction of an office (seat) shall not be treated an office (seat) for the purpose of reservation.] [Substituted by Punjab Act No. 12 of 2017, dated 4.7.2017.](3)There shall be no reservation in the offices of Sarpanches for Backward Classes.(4)The offices reserved under this section shall be allotted by rotation to the different [Gram panchayats at the time of every general election] [Substituted the words 'Gram Panchayats' vide Punjab Act No. 15 of 1998.] in such manner as may be prescribed.Explanation - For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared that the principle of rotation for the purpose of reservation of offices under sections 2 and 12 shall commence from the first election to be held after the commencement of this Act.
