Section 7 in The West Bengal Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 2012
7. Amendment of section 143.
- For sub-section (1) of section 143 of the principal Act, the following sub-section shall be substituted :"(1) Every Zilla Parishad shall, at its first meeting at which a quorum is present, elect, in the prescribed manner, one of its members to be the Sabhadhipati and another member to be the Sahakari Sabhadhipati of the Zilla Parishad :Provided that the members referred to in clauses (1) and (iii) and (iv) of sub-section (2) of section 140 shall neither participate in, nor be eligible for, such election :Provided further that subject to such rules as may be made in this behalf by the State Government, a member shall not be eligible for such election unless he declares in writing that on being elected, he shall be a whole time functionary of his office and that during the period for which he holds or is due to hold such office, he shall not hold any office of profit unless he has obtained leave of absence from his place of employment or shall not carry on or be associated with any business, profession or calling in such manner that shall or is likely to interfere with due exercise of his powers, due performance of his functions or due discharge of his duties :Provided also that subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf, the offices of the Sabhadhipati and the Sahakari Sabhadhipati shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in such manner that the number of offices so reserved at the time of any general election shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of such offices in West Bengal as the population of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes, as the case may be, in all the Blocks within West Bengal taken together bears with the total population in the same area, and such offices shall be subject to allocation by rotation in the manner prescribed :Provided also that the offices of the Sabhadhipati and the Sahakari Sabhadhipati in any Zilla Parishad having the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes population, as the case may be, constituting not more than five per cent of the total population in the Blocks within the district, shall not be considered for allocation by rotation :Provided also that in the event of the number of Zilla Parishad area having the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes population constituting more than five per cent of the total population, falling short of the number of offices of the Sabhadhipati and the Sahakari Sabhadhipati required for reservation in West Bengal the State Election Commissioner, may, by order, include, or the purpose of reservation, other such offices of the Sabhadhipati and the Sahakari Sabhadhipati beginning from the district having higher proportion of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes, as the case may be, until the total number of seats required for reservation is obtained :Provided also that as nearly as practicable one-half but not exceeding one-half of the total number of offices of the Sabhadhipati and the Sahakari Sabhadhipati reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in West Bengal, shall be reserved by rotation for the women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes as the case may be :Provided also that as nearly as practicable one-half but not exceeding one-half of the total number of offices of the Sabhadhipati and the Sahakari Sabhadhipati in West Bengal including the offices reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes shall be reserved for the women, and the offices so reserved shall be determined by rotation in such manner as may be prescribed :Provided also that determination of the offices of the Sabhadhipati within the State reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Backward Classes and women shall precede such determination for the offices of the Sahakari SabhadhipatiProvided also that if, for any term of election (hereinafter referred to in this proviso as the said term of election), the office of the Sabhadhipati in a Zilla Parishad is reserved for any category of persons in accordance with the rules in force, the office of the Sahakari Sabhadhipati in that Zilla Parishad shall not be reserved for the said term of election for any category and if, in accordance with the rules applicable to the office of the Sahakari Sabhadhipati, such office is required to be reserved for the said term of election, such reservation for the same category shall be made in another office of the Sahakari Sabhadhipati within the State in the manner prescribed, keeping the total number of offices so reserved for the said term of election equal to the number of such offices required to be reserved in accordance with the rules in force :Provided also that when in any term of election, an office of the Sahakari Sabhadhipati is not reserved on the ground that the corresponding office of the Sabhadhipati is reserved in the manner prescribed, such office of the Sahakari sabhadhipati not reserved on the ground as aforesaid, shall be eligible for consideration for reservation during the next term of election in the manner prescribed :Provided also that notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section or elsewhere in this Act, the principle of rotation for the purpose of reservation of offices under this sub-section shall commence from the first election to be held after the coming into force of section 39 of the West Bengal Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 1994 (West Bengal Act XVIII of 1994), and the roaster for reservation by rotation shall continue for every two successive terms for the complete rotation unless the State Election Commissioner, for reasons to be recorded in writing and by notification, directs fresh commencement of the rotation at any stage excluding one or more terms from the operation of the rotation :Provided also that no member of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes.and no woman, for whom the offices are reserved under this sub-section, shall, if eligible for the office of the sabhadhipati or the Sahakari sabhadhipati, be disqualified for election to any office not so reserved :Provided also that any member elected from an unreserved seat or from a seat reserved for another category shall be eligible for election to the office of the sabhadhipati or the Sahakari sabhadhipati reserved for a particular category if he belongs to such category and produces Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or a Backward Classes certificate, as the case may be, issued by the competent authority before the presiding officer in order to establish his claim :Provided also that the provisions for reservation of the offices of sabhadhipati and the Sahakari sabhadhipati for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall cease to have effect on the expiry of the period specified in Article 334 of the Constitution of India and the provisions for reservation of seats for the Backward Classes shall cease to have effect from the date on which the State Legislature by enactment decides so in this behalf.''.
