Section 3 in The Orissa Grama Panchayats Act, 1964
3. Constitution of Grama.
(1)The State Government may for the purposes of this Act by declaration notified in the Gazette constitute any village or group of contiguous villages as a Grama and assign to such Grama, a name which shall be of one of the villages comprised within the Grama.Explanation - Village intervened only by forest areas, hills, streams, rivers and such other natural barriers, and lands not forming part of any village may be treated as contiguous villages :[Provided that in the Scheduled Areas, a Grama shall ordinarily consist of a habitation or group of habitations, a hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising a community or communities and managing its affairs in accordance with traditions and customs.] [Inserted by O.A.15 of 1997 vide Orissa Gazette Extraordinary No. 1567, Notification No. 22433 dated 22.12.1997.](2)Wherever the State Government deem it fit so to do they may cancel any notification in respect of a Grama under Sub-section (1) or may alter the area comprised in a Grama by reducing or adding to the number of villages comprised within such Grama and by declaration notified in the Gazette constitute such altered area or areas as a Grama or Gramas, as the case may be, for the purposes of the said sub-section.(3)No Grama shall, so far as may be reasonably practicable, be constituted with a population of less than two thousand and more than ten thousand but in no event shall a village be divided and a part thereof included within a Grama.
