CHAPTER IX CHAPTER IX DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
10.23 T he functions that niay bfe entrusted to a Thana Parishad 'nisty Tje seen Appendix^ VIII
may be elected on the basis df universal adult franchise as members of the Thana Parishad. There is, however, a school of thought which is of the view that there is no need for a directly, elected Thana Parishad. A Thana’ Parishad may consist of the elected Chairmen of the .Union Parishads under the, Thana-and'the Chairman and Viqe- Ghairman be elected by an, electoral college [consisting of all thq members of the Union Parishad in the Thana.; This will confer virtually additional privilege on ,the Chairman- of, the, Unipn Parishad in-’the shape of 'double, membership. It.,is oppQsed; to democracy.
It may create a centre of vested interests. This was the practice under the system of “Basic Democracies”. Under that system, a Thana Council comprised two categories of rilembers— Chairmen of the tfnion Councils and official members. ‘ The introduction bf official members w&S an imposition of the bureaucratic element on the Thana Councils.
It was a negation of 'demdcracy. Even if the Thana -'Parishad is to consist 'of the Chairmen of th e Union Parishads, it£f Authority will riot be in the nature of a'direct mandate from 'the people, although it will be 'possible to avoid the difficulties associated With elections. In that case, the Thana Parishad will mefely be a-Committee, at best a Co-ordinating Committee to co-ordinate the activities of the Union Parishad. This seems to be contrary to the provisions of the Consti
tution. We are of the view that the members of the Thana Parishad should be directly elected in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Chairman and Vice-Chairman of, the Thana Parishad/
10. £2 AS in the case of the Union Parishad, a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman for every Thana Parishad may, in addition to the members, be elected directly by all the voters in a Thana* on the basis of universal adult franchise. Their duties and functions may also be1 «t it * '' r' 1 " *r> f analogous.
Functions, of the Thana Parishad
10.23 T he functions that niay bfe entrusted to a Thana Parishad
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10.24 Apart from the officials of the various Ministries and Departments ‘working at the thana level,' whose services woidd be transferred to the Thana Parishad along with development work that they would be performing, a Thana Parishad will need a few more pff}cials. The Thana Parishad should have a Secretary. He f should look after the management of the office pf the Thana Parishad. This post may be placed,in Grade VI. In addition, there should be a Chief Executive Officer of the Thana Parishad who .should be the principal staff officer of the Chairman of the, Thana, Parishad. He should also be designated as the Than^- Development Officer so that he can, under the guidance of the Chairman, co-ordinate all developmental activities iri a Thana. He should be an officer’ trained in ‘ management. 1 His main function should be to See'that the direction of the Thana'Parishad to the'various heads of the Department working under its general
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- control and supervision are carried out properly and expeditiously!
The ppst' may be placed in Grade V.
Committee System of Work in the Thana Parishad
10.25 A Thana Parishad should transact its business through various committees or sub-committees^ consisting of such number of its members and co-opted members as necessary. These committees and sub-committees may perform such functions as may be necessary.
The relevant employees should also be the members of the relevant
■committees. A Thana Parishad may form any of the following committees: (i) Finance Committee; (ii) Agricultural Development Committee, (iii) Works ‘Committee,-,(iv) Water Supply aftd- -Epidemic Control Committee, (v) Cottage Industries Committee,, (vi) Education Committee, (vii) Tender Committee, and (viii) Law and Order Copimittee. The committees may be of- different- types: statutory and Optional,, standing and .ad-hoc committees.
10.26 The committees are usually used for two separate,'though interlocking purposes. A committee may Examine a matter, thrash it out in .detailed discussion and be able to make to the parent bodies a recommendation that is based o n 'a more careful and prolonged
examination • tHat could not be' made i n a meeting of the. parentbody.
Second^ a committee may be- asked to carry out a particular project in the’ sense-- that, it supervises it and see to- its successful completion.-
10.27 In addition to the above usual advantages, the committees of a Thana ParishatT should be utilised to ensure effective co-ordinatidn between the works of the Thana and Union Panshads by including in the committees members from the Union Parishad inclusive o f its Chairmaii and Vice-Chairman.* These committees should7 also work in co-operation with Hie committees of the Zilla Parishad. Art important committee that ttiav' be corfs^kuted1 is imfieated below.
10.28 Agricultural development Committee: The Committee may consist o£ the. Chairman of tlie.Thana Parishad as ex-pfficio Chair
man, three or, four members to be nominated by the Thana Parishad and a member from each Union Parishad. The Thana Agriculture Officer should act as Member-Secretary. It may co-opt one or twoI members having interest in agriculture. The following may be the functions of the Agricultural Development Committee :—
(a) Preparation and implementation of plans and programmes;
(b) Co-ordination of developmental activities at the union level;
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(c) Procurement and distribution of agricultural implements, fertiliser, etc;
(d.) Training of farmers;.
($)> Tree plantation; and
(f) Submission of monthly report of its activities.
This may be true of other committees as well.
income of the Thbiia* Parishad
10.29 The Thana Parishad should have some indepedent sources of income. The Government shoulcj set-up a committee to.examine the; financial, conditions of the local- bodies at all Jevels. The com
mittee should Jbe .asked to suggest the possible sources of the income pf the Thana Parishad. There may be common sources of income for all the local bodies to be collected by a single authority and the
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amount realised may be divided among the ithree bodies on .an agreed principle. Besides, there should be substantial grants -from the Government. This would be further discussed in the later part of this (Chapter.
Thana Development'Administration
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10.30 - A Thana Parishad should be responsible for all the deyelopjnental activities within the Thana. In accordance ?yith clause 2(c)f of Article 59 of the, ^Constitution, -a Thana Parishad should be responsible for “the preparation of the, plans relating to public services and (economic "development and the direction and supervision of the implementation of such plans”. This is a clear constitutional ^obligation imposed o n the Thana Parishad. In this iregafd a .Thana Parishad-“should .co-ordinate the activiti£s_ofi«lI ihje Umon Parishads within fee T-hana# It should formulate, and recom- jipend -tg the ^Government development jsohemes of importance to stltfc
■T^iana; review, the progress of-the various -branches sof-Mministratioise^
development (and regulatory) in the Thana; consider .thelocal probleifis of importance to the Thana in all branches of administration and make suggestions for development, improvement and,ge,neral .advancement.