57. Reservation of seats in the office of President, Chairman, etc.
(1)Office of the Presidents of Village Panchayats, chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and chairmen of District Panchayats, shall be reserved for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of offices in the State as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or the Scheduled Tribes in the State bear to the total population of the State:[***] [[The following provisos were omitted by Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1995 (Tamil Nadu Act 30 of 1995): -'Provided that not less than one third of the total number of office of the Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of the Panchayat Union Councils and the Chairmen of the District Panchayats in the State, shall be reserved for women :Provided further that the offices reserved under this section, shall be allotted by rotation to different Panchayats at each level in such manner as may be prescribed.]][(1-A) Offices of the Presidents of the Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and Chairmen of District Panchayats shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from among the offices reserved for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes which shall not be less than [fifty per cent] [Inserted by Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1995 (Tamil Nadu Act 30 of 1995).] of the total number of offices reserved for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.][***] [[The following Sub-sections were inserted by Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1995 (Tamil Nadu Act 30 of 1995) and subsequently omitted by Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1996 (Tamil Nadu Act 15 of 1996).'(1-B) Offices of Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and Chairmen of District Panchayat shall be reserved for persons belonging to the backward classes of citizens and the number of offices so reserved shall be, as nearly as may be, fifty per cent of the total number of offices of the Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and Chairmen of District Panchayats in the State.(1-C) Offices of the Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils, and Chairmen of District Panchayats shall be reserved for women belonging to the backward classes of citizens from among the offices reserved for the persons belonging to the backward classes of citizens which shall not be less than one third of the total number of offices reserved for the persons belonging to the backward classes of citizens.]][(1-D) Offices of the Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and Chairman of District Panchayats in the State shall be reserved for woman which shall not be less than [fifty per cent] [Inserted by Tamil Nadu Act 30 of 1995.] [including the number of offices reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes] [Substituted for the following words '(including the number of offices reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes of Citizens)' by Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 1996 (Tamil Nadu Act 15 of 1996).] of the total number of such offices in the State:Provided that the offices reserved under this section shall be allotted by rotation to different panchayats at each level in such manner, as may be prescribed.](2)Reservation of the offices of the Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and Chairmen of the District Panchayats shall be made by the Government or by any officer authorised by the Government in this behalf.(3)The reservation of the offices of Presidents of the Village Panchayats, Chairmen of the Panchayat Union Councils and Chairmen of the District Panchayats made under sub-section (1) in respect of the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in Article 334 of the Constitution.(4)While determining the number of offices of Presidents of Village Panchayats, Chairmen of Panchayat Union Councils and Chairmen of District Panchayats, under sub-section (1) for the purpose of reservation, [any fraction which is less than half shall be disregarded and half and more than half shall be regarded as one] [Substituted for the words 'any fraction thereof shall be disregarded' by Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Third Amendment) Act, 1999 (Tamil Nadu Act 29 of 1999).].
