State Act

The Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act.

1[30. Election of Sarpanch.— (1) Every Panchayat shall be presided over by a Sarpanch who shall be elected by, and from amongst, the elected members thereof. 2[(1A) In respect of the panchayat to which the Sarpanch is elected directly under section 30A-1A, the provisions of this section shall apply with the following modifications :— (a) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely :— (1) Every panchayat shall be presided over by a Sarpanch.] 3[* * *] (3) No member of a Panchayat shall be eligible for being elected or for continuing, as Sarpanch if he holds the office of the President or Vice-President of any Zilla Parishad or Chairman of any Subjects Committee thereof or the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of any Panchayat Samiti; and if a Sarpanch is elected to any of such offices, his office as Sarpanch shall become vacant from the date of such election. (4) There shall be reservation in the offices of the Sarpanchas in the Panchayats for 4[the persons belonging to] the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the category of Backward Class of citizens and women as follows :— (a) the number of offices of Sarpanchas to be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the Panchayats shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of such offices in the Panchayats as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State 5[excluding the population of the Scheduled Tribes in Panchayat comprising entirely the Scheduled Areas] bears to the total population of the State : 6[Provided that, the office of the Sarpanch of a Panchayat comprising entirely the Scheduled Areas shall be reserved only for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribes : Provided further that, the office of the Sarpanch of a Panchayat falling only partially in the Scheduled Areas shall be reserved for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in accordance with the provisions of clause (a) :] 7[Provided also that], 8[one-half of the total number of offices] so reserved shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes ; 1[(b) the offices of Sarpanchas to be reserved for the persons belonging to the category of Backward Class of Citizens shall be upto 27 per cent. of the total number of such offices in the panchayats and the total reservation shall not be more than 50 per cent. of the total seats in the concerned District : Provided that, one-half of the offices so reserved shall be reserved for women belonging to the category of Backward Classes of Citizens ;] (c) 2[one-half of the total number of offices of Sarpanchas] (including the number of offices reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the category of Backward Class of Citizens) in the Panchayats shall be reserved for women. (5) The number of offices reserved under this section shall be allotted by rotation to different Panchayats in the prescribed manner. (6) The reservation of offices of Sarpanchas (other than the reservation for women) shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in article 334 of the Constitution of India.]