Punjab: Rural Development and Panchayat dept seeks info on term of panchayats

The Rural Development and Panchayat department on Monday sought information from its concerned officers regarding the date of completion of the five-year term of the gram panchayats in Punjab so as to appoint administrative officers.

The development came four months after the Punjab government had withdrawn its decision of dissolving all gram panchayats in the state. The state government had then even suspended its two senior IAS officers for taking a ''technically flawed'' decision on dissolution of the panchayats.

According to a communication of the Rural Development and Panchayat department issued on Monday, ''The state government will be holding the elections to the gram panchayats in the near future.'' The order stated that before holding the polls, there was a plan to appoint the administrative officers to take care of the records by dissolving the panchayats.

The administrative officers will be appointed in case of gram panchayats that have completed five-year from its first meeting, it said.

In August last year, the state government had dissolved all 13,241 gram panchayats through a notification.

However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had to withdraw its August 10 notification of dissolution of gram panchayats after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) challenged it in the Punjab and Haryana high court.