(1)Every Gram Panchayat shall, at its first meeting at which a quorum is present, elect, in the prescribed manner , one of its members to be the Pradhan and another member to be the Upa-Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat and any dispute relating to the validity of the election of Pradhan and Upa- Pradhan shall be made before the prescribed authority.(2)The meeting to be held under sub-section (1) shall be convened by the prescribed authority in the prescribed manner.(3)Seats shall be reserved in the office of Pradhan of Gram Panchayat for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the number of offices so reserved in the State shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of such offices as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State bears to the total population of the State.[Provided that in the event of non-availability of any elected member belonging to Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, Scheduled Tribes, the reservation rotation for the office of Pradhan will skip to next rotation] [Inserted by the Tripura Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1998, w.e.f. 15.10.1998.].(4)Not less than one third of the total number of offices of Pradhan of Gram Panchayat including the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, shall be reserved for women in different Gram Panchayat in such manner as may be prescribed :Provided that the number of offices reserved under this Section shall be allotted by rotation to different Gram Panchayats in such manner as may be prescribed within the State.(5)The term of offices of every Pradhan and every Upa-Pradhan shall, save as otherwise provided in this Act, cease on the expiry of his term of office as a member of the Gram Panchayat.(6)When-(a)the office of the Pradhan falls vacant by reason of death, resignation, removal or otherwise ; or(b)the Pradhan, is by reason of leave, illness or other cause, temporarily unable to act, the Upa-Pradhan shall exercise the powers, perfrom the functions and discharge of duties of the Pradhan until a new Pradhan is elected and assumes office or until the Pradhan resumes his duties, as the case may be.(7)When-(a)the office of the Upa-Pradhan falls vacant by reason of death, resignation, removal or otherwise ; or(b)the Upa-Pradhan, is by reason of leave, illness or other cause, temporarily unable to act,the Pradhan shall exercise the powers, perform the functions and discharge the duties of the Upa-Pradhan until a new Upa-Pradhan is elected and assumes office or until the Upa-Pradhan resumes his duties as the case may be.(8)When the Pradhan and the Upa-Pradhan are both temporarily unable to act, the prescribed authority may appoint a Pradhan and an Upa-Pradhan from among the members of the Gram Panchayat to act as such until the Pradhan or the Upa-Pradhan resumes office.(9)The Pradhan and Upa-Pradhan of a Gram Panchayat shall be entitled to leave of absence for such period or periods as may be prescribed.
