The tenure of three-tier panchayat bodies in Jharkhand has been extended till fresh elections are held, the state panchayati raj department announced on Tuesday, notifying what will be the second such extension.
Tuesday's extension has been affected through an ordinance as the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act 2001 does not have any provision for granting a second extension. The Hemant Soren government had extended the tenures of panchayat bodies for six months the first time in January since fresh elections could not be conducted because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first extension was till mid-July.
Rural development minister Alamgir Alam said that with the second wave of Covid-19 on the wane, the state government had prepared the ground work to hold rural polls by the end of the year. “The state election commission has started its homework for the polls, and if all goes well with no resurgence of Covid-19, we should be able to hold panchayat polls by this year-end,” he said.
Panchayat elections were held in 2015 and fresh polls were due on December 7, 2020. As per the latest notification, the fresh extension is till elections are held. The notification reads, “The extension of tenures of the working committee of panchayat bodies would be effective till the elections for local bodies take place.”
The notification added that deputy commissioners will be empowered to reconstitute working committees in three-tier panchayat bodies. Mukiyas, deputy mukhiyas and ward members of gram panchayats of both general and the reserved areas, pramukhs, deputy pramukhs and members of panchayat samitis and the chairman, deputy chairman and members of zila parishads have all been retained in the new working committees.
“The working committees of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads enjoy all the powers and functions under the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act. Block development officers and deputy development commissioners will continue to discharge their responsibilities as per the existing provisions of extension,” it said.
