Days after DMK president M.K. Stalin urged his partymen to organise gram sabhas in over 16,000 villages to adopt resolutions against the AIADMK government as part of his campaign, the State government on Thursday asked District Collectors not to allow unauthorised gram sabhas.
According to a release from the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, the government has instructed officials to take legal action against parties ‘misusing’ gram sabhas as the government has not given permission for conducting them.
“Collectors are instructed not to allow such gram sabhas as only elected representatives from the respective village panchayats are authorised to decide whether to call for a gram sabha under the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994. Political parties or individuals organising such meetings in the name of gram sabhas for political gain would confuse the public,” it said.
A gram sabha is an administrative set-up enshrined in the Constitution, which has authorised the panchayat president to call meetings. In their absence, the respective Collector can organise them. “So, other than those authorised, meetings organised by a political party or an individual in the name of gram sabha is illegal. There is scope for initiating legal action against violations of the law,” the government warned. The gram sabhas under the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994, do not subscribe to a specific political party, it added.
Responding to the warning, Mr. Stalin announced that the gram sabha meetings being conducted by the party as part of the ‘We reject AIADMK government’ campaign would henceforth be called ‘Makkal Grama Sabha Kootam’.
“There is a difference between the gram sabhas conducted by the panchayats elected by the people and the ones organised by the DMK. The CM has not understood this difference,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said the gram sabha was not convened by the district collector or the panchayat presidents and it was an exclusive effort of the DMK. “It is part of the DMK's election campaign and the government is afraid of its impact,” he said.
