(1)A Gram Panchayat shall have power to acquire, hold and dispose of property and to enter into contract:Provided that in all cases of acquisition or disposal of immovable property by the Gram Panchayat, it shall obtain the prior approval of the State Government.(2)All property within the local limits of the jurisdiction of Gram Panchayat of the nature hereinafter in this section specified, other than property maintained by the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority or any other Gram Panchayat, shall vest in and belong to the Gram Panchayat, and shall, with all other property of whatsoever nature of kind which may become vested in the Gram Panchayat, be under its direction, management and control, that is to say -(a)all common properties;(b)all public streets, including the soil, stones and other materials thereof and all drains, bridges, culverts, street, erections, materials, implements and other things provided for such streets;(c)all public channels, water courses, springs, tanks, ghats, reservoirs, cisterns, wells, aquiducts, conduits, tunnels, pipes, pumps and other water works whether made, laid or erected at the cost of the Gram Panchayat or otherwise, and all bridges, buildings, engineer works, materials and things connected therewith or appertaining thereto and also any adjacent land (not being private property) appertaining to any public tank :Provided that water pipes and waterworks, connected therewith or appertaining thereto which with the consent of the Gram Panchayat are laid or set up in any street by the owners of any mill, factory, workshop or the like primarily for the use of their employees shall not be deemed to be public waterworks by reason of their use by the public :(d)all public sewers and rains, and all works, materials and things appertaining thereto and other conservancy work :Provided that for the purpose of enlarging, deepening or otherwise repairing or maintaining any such sewer or drain the sub-soil appertaining thereto shall also be deemed to vest in the Gram Panchayat.(e)all sewage, rubbish and offensive matter deposited on streets or collected by the Gram Panchayat from streets, latrines, urinals, sewers, cesspools and other places;(f)all public lamps, lamp-posts and apparatus connected therewith or appertaining thereto; and(g)all buildings erected by the Gram Panchayat and all lands and buildings or the property transferred to the Gram Panchayat by the Central Government or the State Government or acquired by gift, purchase or otherwise for local public purposes.(3)The State Government may, by notification, exclude any street, bridge or drain from the operation of this Act or of any specified section of this Act :Provided that if the cost of the construction of the work had been paid from the Gram Panchayat Fund, such work shall not be excluded from the operation of this Act or any specified section of this Act, except after consideration of the views of the Gram Panchayat at a meeting.(4)The State Government may allocate to a Gram Panchayat any public property situated within its local jurisdiction and thereupon such property shall vest in and come under the control of the Gram Panchayat.
