State Act

THE KARNATAKA GRAM SWARAJ AND PANCHAYAT RAJ ACT, 1993

53. Quorum and procedure.- (1) The quorum for a meting of the Grama Panchayat shall be 1[one-half]1 of the total number of members. If at the time appointed for the meeting a quorum is not present the presiding authority shall wait for thirty minutes, and if within such period there is no quorum, the presiding authority shall adjourn the meeting to such time on the following day or such future day as he may fix. He shall similarly after waiting for thirty minutes adjourn the meeting if at any time after it has begun attention is drawn to the want of a quorum . A notice of the meeting so fixed shall be pasted in the office of the Grama Panchayat. The business which could not be considered at the meeting so postponed for want of quorum, shall be brought before and disposed of at the meeting so fixed or at any subsequent adjourned meeting at which there is a quorum. 2[ 1[Provided that in any meeting called for the purpose of election of Adhyaksha or Upadhyaksha, if there is no quorum at the time appointed for the meeting, the presiding authority shall wait for thirty minutes and if within such time there is no quorum, he/she shall adjourn the meeting to such time on the following working day which is not a public holiday and if there be no quorum even on the second adjourned day, election shall be conducted for which no quorum is necessary]1 ]2 (2) Save as otherwise provided by or under this Act, at every meeting of Grama Panchayat, the Adhyaksha or in his absence the Upadhyaksha shall preside, and in the absence of both, the members present shall choose one from amongst themselves to preside for the occasion. (3) All questions shall, unless otherwise specifically provided, be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting. The Adhyaksha or Upadhyaksha or person presiding, as the case may be, unless he refrains from voting shall give his vote before declaring the number of votes for and against a question and in the case of equality of votes he may give his casting vote. (4) No member of a Grama Panchayat shall vote on, or take part in the discussion of any question coming up for consideration at a meeting of a Grama Panchayat, if the question is one in which apart from its general application to the public, he has any pecuniary interest, and if the person presiding has such an interest, he shall not preside over the meeting when such question comes up for consideration. 1[(4A) It shall be the duty of every member of a Grama Panchayat to disclose to the Grama Panchayat any pecuniary interest that he has, direct or indirect, in any question coming up for consideration at a meeting of a Grama Panchayat]1 (5) If the person presiding is believed by any member present at the meeting to have any such pecuniary interest in any matter under discussion and if a motion to that effect be carried he shall not preside at the meeting during such discussion or vote on or take part in it . Any member of the Grama Panchayat may be chosen to preside at the meeting during the continuance of such discussion. 1[(6) Every member of Grama Panchayat or any committee thereof shall be paid a sitting fee, per day of sitting at such rate, as may be prescribed.]1