Haryana Vidhan Sabha passes Panchayati Raj Bill, 2019

Haryana Vidhan Sabha, on Tuesday, passed the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019. The bill allows precedence to be given to the views of one-tenth members of Gram Sabha regarding the ban of liquor vends in the Sabha area. According to the state government's official release, there are instances where Gram Panchayats are unwilling to prohibit the opening of intoxicating liquor vends in the Sabha area. Meanwhile, there have also been instances while where there is a general demand of local residents that such vends should not be allowed to open around the area. These locals constitute the Gram Sabha area.

Legislation expected to bring positive changes

It is expected that this legislation will bring about such changes in the Act. It is also anticipated that further, the resolution would help to give precedence to the views of one-tenth members of Gram Sabha, over the opinion of the Gram Panchayat.

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It was also said that such a resolution may be passed up to December 31 so that the ban is effective from April 1, 2020. According to the statement, it is necessary to amend section 31 of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994. On a related note, at present, there is a provision in sections 66 and 126 of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 that talks about how every Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad shall meet at least six times in a year for the transaction of its business. However, it has often come to light that debates conducted in these meetings do not give fruitful results due to various reasons and often no conclusions can be reached whatsoever.

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Therefore, it was discussed that it is necessary to provide a dedicated forum for conducting meaningful debates. These would be in the interest of the concerned Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad. A provision may be made in sections 66 and 126 of the Act, to hold at least one session in every six months of a duration not less than two days, in addition to the existing meetings mentioned in sections 66 and 126 of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.

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(With ANI Inputs)