State Act

The Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act.

57. Village fund.— (1) There shall be in each village a fund, which shall be called the village fund. (2) The following shall be paid into, and form part of, the village fund, namely :— (a) the amount which may be allotted to the village fund by the State Government under the provisions of section 191 of the Bombay District Municipal Act, 19014 (Bom. III of 1901); or 5[* * *] under section 8 of the Central Provinces and Berar Municipalities Act, 19226 (C.P. and Berar Act II of 1922) ; 7[(b) the proceeds of any tax or fee imposed under section 124 except the general water rate and the special water rate levied under clauses (viii) and (xii), respectively, of sub-section (1) of that section ;] (c) the proceeds of a tax on professions, trades, callings and employments assigned to the panchayat 8[under clause (b) of section 163 of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 (Mah. V of 1962)] ; 9[(d) the sum representing the share of the panchayat in the net proceeds of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees levied by the State as distributed and allocated and determined by the State Government on the recommendations of the Finance Commission;] (e) all other sums ordered by a court to be placed to the credit of the village fund ; (f) the sale proceeds of all dust, dirt, dung, refuse or carcasses of animals, except so far as any person is entitled to the whole or a portion thereof ; 10[(fa) the sale proceeds or royalty of the minor forest produce collected in the Scheduled Areas within the jurisdiction of a panchayat and vested in that panchayat ;] (g) sums contributed to the village fund by the State Government or a 11[Zilla Parishad or Panchayat Samiti] ; (h) all sums received by way of loans from the State Government or the 12[Zilla Parishad] or out of the District Village Development Fund constituted under section 133 13[and all sums borrowed under section 57A] ; (i) all sums received by way of gift or contributions by the panchayat ; (j) the income or proceeds of any property vesting in the panchayat ; 1[* * * * * * *] (l) the net proceeds (after deducting the expenses of assessment and collection) of the cess authorised by section 127 ; (m) all sums realised by way of rent or penalty otherwise than as the amount of any fine in a criminal case ; (n) all sums received as pound fees after deducting the expenses ; 2[(o) all sums received by way of commission by a panchayat, when acting as an insurance agent for implementing any Rural Insurance Scheme of the Life Insurance Corporation of India.] 3[(3) 4[The Secretary and the Sarpanch shall be jointly responsible for the safe custody of the village fund, the Village Water Supply Fund and other moneys received on behalf of the panchayat, from time to time, and shall jointly operate them for the following purposes], namely :— (a) authorisation of payments, issue of cheques and refunds in compliance with the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder or the resolutions, duly passed by the panchayat ; (b) receive all sums of money on behalf of the panchayat in response to notices, bills, appeals and other processes issued by the panchayat ; (c) issue of receipts in the prescribed manner for all sums of money received on behalf of the panchayat and crediting them in the relevant fund ; (d) hold cash impress on hand, of not more 5[than one hundred and fifty] at a time, for contingent purpose of the panchayat ; (e) incur contingent expenditure 6[upto one hundred rupees] at any occasion ; (f) for performing such other duties and exercising such other powers in regard to the funds as may be prescribed. (4) The Secretary shall submit a weekly statement of accounts to the 7[panchayat] and a monthly statement of account to the Block Development Officer, giving in particular the details of the receipts into and payments from and the balance in the funds 8[* *].