NEW DELHI: The Union Panchayati Raj Ministry is initiating steps to reserve the expression "panchayats" exclusively for "the Panchayats" as referred to in Part IX of the Constitution. This is being done to distinguish the Constitutional panchayats from caste-based panchayats that come up illegally to resolve social issues.

`The State of the Panchayats, 2006: A mid-term review and appraisal', brought out by the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry describes the khap panchayats or caste-based panchayats as extremely disturbing, adding that illegitimate and possibly illegal bodies call themselves `panchayats' and, base themselves on extremely reactionary social practices and even social abuse, thereby giving the Panchayati Raj movement a bad name.

Tragically, the retrograde actions of these khap panchayats (and similar other caste-based organisations) are rather more widely reported in the media than the regular work of the Constitutionally-sanctioned Panchayati Raj Institutions, the report points out.

These illegitimate caste-based associations are not "panchayats" in the Constitutional sense of the term and have no legitimacy under the Constitution or law, it adds.

Draft ready

Meanwhile, the draft of the Bill for establishment of nyaya panchayats or village level dispute settlement mechanisms is ready and the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry has recently received the draft Bill for comments from the Union Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.

The Panchayati Raj Ministry had appointed a committee under the chairmanship of the former Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Upendra Baxi to prepare a draft bill for establishment of nyaya panchayats. It was mandated to draft guidelines, rules and explanatory rules for the proposed law on informal dispute settlement mechanisms at the village level.

Meanwhile, the report also suggests that there has been a growing involvement with local governance in other countries, particularly those in the South Asian region and the developing world.

An agreement has been reached in principle with Pakistan to establish an India-Pakistan Working Group on decentralisation at the secretary-level and an India-Pakistan Forum at the Ministerial level.

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