Ashok Mehta Committee

Topic: Panchayati Raj: Rural Local Government · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Ashok Mehta Committee was a committee set up by the Janata government in December 1977 to find out why panchayati raj (the system of elected local government in villages) had become weak and to suggest how to fix it [1][2]. It submitted its report in August 1978. It proposed a two-tier system: a zila parishad at the district level and a mandal panchayat for a group of villages [1].

It matters because it was the first major rethink after the Balwantrai Mehta Committee (1957). Several of its ideas were taken up later: political parties contesting panchayat elections, panchayats raising their own taxes, and constitutional recognition for panchayats.

Explanation

Why it was set up

• The Balwantrai Mehta Committee (1957) had created three tiers: the gram panchayat (village), the panchayat samiti (block) and the zila parishad (district).
• By the 1970s these bodies had become weak:
• elections were put off again and again;
• panchayats had little money and few real powers;

• state officials did most of the rural development work.

• Panchayats had no constitutional status. They existed only under state laws.

• Article 40 is a Directive Principle (a goal for the state that no court can enforce). It only asked states to organise village panchayats.

The report: structure it proposed

• Report: submitted in August 1978, with 132 recommendations. It wanted panchayats to support rural development and to make planning stronger at the grassroots level [1].
• Two tiers instead of three:
• Zila parishad (district). This would be the executive body, meaning the body that actually does the work. It would also be the first point of decentralisation below the state. Decentralisation means handing power down from the state to a lower level.

• Mandal panchayat. This would be a group of villages with 15,000–20,000 people, placed between the village and the block.

• The block would be abolished in time as a unit of development administration [1].

• All district development work then done by the state government would move to the zila parishad [1].

Its other proposals

• Open participation of political parties. Parties could contest panchayat elections on their own party symbols.
• Compulsory taxation powers. Panchayats would have to raise their own money. They would then not depend only on grants from the state.
• Nyaya panchayats separate from development panchayats:
• Nyaya panchayats are village courts that settle small local disputes.

• The same body should not both judge cases and run development schemes.

• Reservation of seats for SCs and STs, in proportion to their population.

• A state minister for panchayati raj.
• Regular elections to panchayati raj bodies [1].
• Constitutional recognition, so that states could not easily ignore panchayats or supersede them (dissolve them and take over their work).

Limits: what happened to the report

• The Janata government fell in 1979 before it could act on the report.
• At the national level, the report was never put into effect.
• Some states acted on their own (see the next section).
• The two-tier model was not adopted in the end. The 73rd Amendment chose three tiers.

In the Constitution and practice

• Position in 1978:
• Local government is a state subject (Entry 5, State List, Seventh Schedule).

• Panchayats rested only on Article 40 and on state laws. This is why the committee asked for constitutional recognition.

• How states used its ideas:

State	Step taken
West Bengal	Held party-based panchayat elections in 1978, the first state to do so
Karnataka	Its 1983 Act created mandal panchayats; elections were held in 1987
Andhra Pradesh	Set up mandal praja parishads

• Later influence:
• The G.V.K. Rao (1985), L.M. Singhvi (1986), P.K. Thungon (1988–89) and Gadgil (1988) committees all repeated its call for constitutional status [1].
• The Constitution (64th Amendment) Bill, 1989 tried to add a Part IX on panchayats. It passed the Lok Sabha in August 1989 but was defeated in the Rajya Sabha in October 1989 [3].
• Final result: the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, which came into force on 24 April 1993:
  • it inserted Part IX ("The Panchayats", Articles 243 to 243-O) and gave panchayats constitutional status [5];
  • it added the Eleventh Schedule, which lists 29 subjects for panchayats;
  • it adopted three tiers, not Ashok Mehta's two. States with a population of not more than 20 lakh may skip the middle tier [4];
  • it provided a fixed five-year term and reservation for SCs, STs and women [4].
• 24 April is now marked as National Panchayati Raj Day.

Don't confuse with

• Balwantrai Mehta Committee (1957): proposed three tiers (village, block, district) under the idea of democratic decentralisation. Ashok Mehta (1978) proposed two tiers and wanted the block abolished.
• G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985, CAARD): made the district the basic unit for planning, called panchayats "grass without roots" and proposed a District Development Commissioner. Abolishing the block was an Ashok Mehta idea, not a G.V.K. Rao idea.
• L.M. Singhvi Committee (1986): proposed nyaya panchayats for clusters of villages and called the gram sabha "the embodiment of direct democracy". Separating nyaya panchayats from development panchayats was Ashok Mehta's idea.
• 73rd Amendment Act (1992): set up three tiers by law. Ashok Mehta's two-tier model was not adopted.

Prelims Hooks

• Ashok Mehta Committee: set up by the Janata government in December 1977; reported in August 1978 with 132 recommendations [1].
• Two tiers: zila parishad (district, the executive body) and mandal panchayat (a group of villages with 15,000–20,000 people) [1].
• Mandal panchayats in practice: Karnataka created them by its 1983 Act and held elections in 1987. Andhra Pradesh set up mandal praja parishads.
• First state to hold party-based panchayat elections: West Bengal (1978), in line with Ashok Mehta's support for party participation.
• Trap: abolishing the block as a unit of development administration was proposed by Ashok Mehta, not by G.V.K. Rao [1].
• Trap: the report was never implemented by the Centre because the Janata government fell in 1979. Constitutional status came only through the 73rd Amendment (1992).

Mains Points

• Party politics in panchayats:
• For: party participation brings accountability and clearer policy choices. West Bengal has held party-based elections since 1978.

• Against: it brings party conflict into village life, which can divide a community.

• Two tiers vs three tiers:

• Ashok Mehta wanted a strong district that does the planning, with mandal panchayats below it.
• Gadgil and the 73rd Amendment chose three tiers, which keep government closer to the people.

• This shows a real trade-off: closeness to people on one side, planning capacity on the other.

• Money and real powers:

• The call for compulsory taxation powers and for moving district development work to the zila parishad [1] is still relevant.
• Under the 73rd Amendment, state laws decide which powers panchayats get (Article 243G). As a result, devolution (the actual handing over of powers and money) is still uneven across states.
• Panchayats that depend on grants risk becoming "grass without roots": bodies that exist on paper but have no real base.

Related concepts

• G.V.K. Rao Committee
• L.M. Singhvi Committee
• P.K. Thungon Committee
• Gadgil Committee
• Constitution (64th Amendment) Bill 1989

Read more

• Rethinking panchayati raj: Ashok Mehta to the 64th Amendment Bill