Section 54B in The Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1959
54B. Powers and duties of panchayats in Scheduled Areas.
- Every panchayat in the Scheduled Areas shall,-(a)obtain from the Gram sabha a certification of utilisation of funds, spent by the panchayat for the plans, programmes and projects approved under clause (b) of section 54A;(b)be consulted by the land Acquisition Authority, before acquiring any land in the Scheduled areas falling within its jurisdiction, for development projects and re-setting or rehabilitating any person affected by such projects in the Scheduled Areas:Provided that, every panchayat shall consult the Gram sabha before conveying its views to the Land Acquisition Authority concerned;(c)be competent to make recommendations, to the licencing authorities concerned, and the licencing authorities shall not grant any licence or any permission for prospecting licence or mining lease for minor minerals and concessions for the exploitation of minor minerals by auction, in the Scheduled Areas, without consultation with the Gram sabha. Any decision taken by the majority of the Gram sabha concerned shall be binding on the concerned authorities and the panchayat at the appropriate level;(d)be competent monitor progress and supervise functioning of institutions and functionaries entrusted with implementation of social sector programmes in the village concerned and make suitable recommendations to the panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad with regard to implementation of social sector programmes:Provided that, every panchayat shall consult the Gram sabha before conveying any recommendations to the Panchayat Samitis and the Zilla Parishad. Any decision taken by the majority of the Gram sabha in this regard shall be binding on the panchayat;(e)be competent to make recommendations pertaining to alienation of land of the persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, to the Collector with a view to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled Areas and to restore unlawfully alienated land of a Scheduled Tribe:Provided that, every panchayat shall consult the Gram sabha before conveying any recommendation to the Collector;(f)be competent to make any recommendation to the Registrar appointed under the Bombay Money Lenders Act, 1946 for grant of any licence for money lending. Any decision taken by the majority of the Gram sabha concerned shall be binding on the panchayat as well as on the concerned authorities at the appropriate level:Provided that, every panchayat shall consult the Gram sabha before conveying any recommendation to the Registrar:Provided further that, the executive management of the money lending business shall be with the panchayat;(g)be competent to regulate exploitation, management and trade of minor forest produce vested in it, subject to the provisions of the Maharashtra Transfer of Ownership of Minor Forest Produce in the Scheduled Areas, and the Maharashtra Minor Forest Produce (Regulation of Trade) (Amendment) Act, 1997;(h)be competent to manage the minor water bodies.Explanation. - For the purposes of this clause "minor water bodies" means any water storage and irrigation storage including village tanks, percolation tanks, lift irrigation works upto 100 hectares;(i)be competent to establish and manage a village market in the area of the village after obtaining approval therefor from the Gram sabha. Any decision taken by the majority of the Gram sabha in this regard shall be binding on the panchayat;(j)in the Scheduled Areas where the population of the Scheduled Tribes is more than fifty per cent of the total population, the Office of the Chairperson of such panchayat shall be reserved only for the persons belonging to Scheduled Tribes;(k)be competent to make recommendations to the concerned authorities for felling of trees in the area of the village after obtaining recommendations of the Gram sabha:Provided that, any recommendations made by the Gram sabha shall be binding on the panchayat;(l)be competent to prepare the budget and to get it approved by the Gram sabha :Provided that, any decision taken by the majority of the Gram sabha concerned shall be binding on the panchayat;(m)be consulted by any competent authorities in respect of land, water resources, forests and all other natural resources situated within the jurisdiction of panchayat after making consultation with the Gram sabha in this regard;(n)be competent to get the plans, programmes and projects to be implemented for social and economic development before such plans, programmes and projects are taken up for implementation by such panchayat, approved by the Gram sabha.
