The Local self government department has issued an order forbidding local bodies from appointing the close relatives of elected representatives in the planning committees, after a few such cases came to notice. The order was issued following the recommendations of the Local Self government Ombudsman in a case related to the involvement of a relative of an elected representative in the decision making process of the planning committee at Thrikkalangode panchayat in Malappuram last year.
As per the department’s order, the close relatives of the elected representatives should not be appointed in the planning committee post including vice president, member or any other posts. The list of close relatives specified includes husband, wife, siblings, parents, children, spouse of brother or sister or siblings of husband or wife.
The stated aim of the Ombudsman recommendation was to prevent unnecessary interference in the administrative apparatus of the local bodies. The local body-level planning committee has a total of twelve members, including the President (a post which is held by the elected president of the local body), Vice President (experts who can aid the local body in project planning), members (standing committee chairpersons as well as experts) and convenor (secretary of the local body).
The specifications for the Vice President as well as members give the local bodies the leeway to include persons from outside, which was exploited in some cases by those in power to appoint close relatives. The planning committees were first introduced in 2017 with an aim to involve the local population in the planning process, implementation as well as monitoring of the projects taken up under the people’s plan.
